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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415679">Messages</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AricaZorel/pseuds/AricaZorel'>AricaZorel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>All or Nothing [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>1st special operations biotics company, Biotics (Mass Effect), Cabins, Coffee date, Dating, Dorkiness, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Grandmothers, Headaches &amp; Migraines, Hiking, Holding Hands, Insecurity, Literal Sleeping Together, Major Original Character(s), Military Training, Mountains, Normandy-SR2, Past Relationship(s), Post-Mass Effect 2: Arrival, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pre-Mass Effect 3, Priority: Mars, Romantic Fluff, Shore Leave, Star Wars References, Texting, getting to know each other (again), past kaidan alenko/ original character, promises kept, video chatting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:49:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>30,291</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415679</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AricaZorel/pseuds/AricaZorel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Strong hands shot forward and caught her before she fell. The Lt. Cmdr. looked up to apologize and thank the person but stopped.  Frozen. Kora Reese looked up into whiskey colored eyes as her knees went weak. It couldn’t be him. Not after damn near three years…<br/>“Easy there. Are you okay?” Major Kaidan Alenko asked with concern. His features slowly melted into recognition as he realized who he held in his hands. A slow smile spread across his face as he asked, “Reese?”<br/>She blinked back her surprise and tried to compose herself. No sense in letting him see the deep scars she still carried from back then…<br/>“Major,” she replied with a tight smile, refusing to use his name.</p><p>Kora Reese had been just a LTJG when the Normandy was destroyed by the Collectors. The crew scattered to the winds after their triumph over the Geth and Saren. Their commanding officer declared dead by the Alliance. That short tour of duty aboard the SR1 had changed her life in so many ways. Meeting Kaidan Alenko had changed her life in so many ways. Now nearly three years and a heartbreak later, they cross paths again. Afraid of what that could mean, Reese must make a choice: continue to ignore what her heart wants or try again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kaidan Alenko/Original Character(s), Kaidan Alenko/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>All or Nothing [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848730</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>***text messages are in italics***</p><p>****italics also denote a flashback but a date/place tag is also included****</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>February 24, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Lt. Cmdr. Kora Reese walked down the corridor of the Systems Alliance HQ in the Vancouver-Seattle megaplex. The tech had been recalled from her assignment with the Quarian fleet a few weeks prior. Ad. Anderson had requested her to return to Earth for a special assignment that he would brief her on later. It was not unusual for the Admiral to request sudden reassignments for her. Since the original Normandy had gone down, she hadn’t really been stationed any one place for more than 6 months. In a way she liked it, but she also missed the stability the SR1 had given her. She missed the ship, the people, a <em>person</em>…</p><p>She sighed as she went down the hallway looking intently at her omni-tool. The meeting with the techs from R &amp; D had been moved up. It was something to do with Reaper Tech and adapting it for Alliance uses or any other applications that they could come up with. Then Anderson wanted to meet with her later that afternoon to finally brief her on exactly what her new assignment was supposed to be.</p><p>Suddenly the tech collided into something sending her tumbling backward. Strong hands shot forward and caught her before she fell. The Lt. Cmdr. looked up to apologize and thank the person but stopped.  Frozen. She looked up into whiskey colored eyes as her knees went weak. It couldn’t be him. Not after damn near three years…</p><p>“Easy there. Are you okay?” Major Kaidan Alenko asked with concern. His features slowly melted into recognition as he realized who he held in his hands. A slow smile spread across his face as he asked, “Reese?”</p><p>She blinked back her surprise and tried to compose herself. No sense in letting him see the deep scars she still carried from back then…</p><p>“Major,” she replied with a tight smile, pointedly refusing to use his name.</p><p>The sentinel watched as the woman stood her full height of 5’ 9” and straightened her uniform. Her dark hair was coiled into a braid at the base of her head. She brushed strands of dark wavy hair out of her grey colored eyes. She had bangs now. Three years ago she didn’t have them. It suited her though. Her whole demeanor suited her now. She stood with an air of confidence now…</p><p>He glanced at her collar and said with surprise, “Lt….<em>Cmdr</em>.?”</p><p>“Ummm, yeah. I’ve been bumped up a couple ranks…” she replied as she shut her omni-tool down. She waved vaguely at his own rank insignia. “You’ve been promoted too I see.”</p><p>He looked down at his uniform and suddenly became embarrassed. He ran a hand through his short dark hair. She noticed the strands of grey that had snuck into his side burns. He was as handsome as ever but something about him was different.</p><p>“I—Ad. Anderson put me on some special ops and things just went from there,” Alenko said as he finally looked her in the eye again. “He’s got me on an extended assignment for the foreseeable future. But I’m here now because of something big he said was going down.”</p><p>Reese frowned at him but then returned to her carefully controlled expression. She wasn’t a Lt. JG. any longer. She was an experienced officer in her own right. She could keep her cool. “I see. Anderson recalled me from my research assignment with Tali for <em>something big</em> too.”</p><p>“Research with Tali?” Kaidan echoed curiously. That had caught him by surprise, but he was making no attempt to hide it either.</p><p>“Yeah. Joint project between the Quarians and the Alliance. It wasn’t exactly<em> just</em> research. Field trips like the ones on the SR1 were…<em>required</em>,” she replied wondering what his reaction would be. As head of the marine detail on the original Normandy he had never been fond of taking her into the field. In his opinion, she had lacked the proper temperament needed for the high-risk missions they had undertaken at that time.</p><p>“Field trips? Just you and Tali?”</p><p>“Not always, but sometimes. But Tali’s proven she can handle herself in a fight if you recall,” she answered making no mention of herself on purpose. Obviously he hadn’t kept up with all the project Anderson was running under the Alliance’s radar.</p><p>The Major took in the new information and then asked slowly, “What about <em>you</em>?”</p><p>“I’m still here, aren’t I?”</p><p>Kaidan bit back the smart remark he wanted to make in response to her defensive tone. “Well, yes you are.”</p><p>Finally Reese offered him just a little reassurance, “I’ve been training…just like you said I should.”</p><p>Alenko nodded as he looked passed her down the busy hallway. “I’m glad, Reese. You’ve done well for yourself it seems.”</p><p>“Look, Major, I have to meet up with some tech heads in R &amp; D and then I have to meet Anderson…”</p><p>“I know. Look,” he said looking back at her as he activated his omni-tool. “Here’s my private messaging account. If you have time…and want to contact me…”</p><p>Her omni-tool beeped as she received his message. She looked from it to him as he shrugged and gave her a faint smile. “It’s a little different than my old one.”</p><p>Reese looked at him in disbelief as he walked away from her for a second time but with a much different feeling. Left her with her thoughts, she wondered about what could have been. This time he hadn’t said goodbye…</p><p>*****</p><p>Late that evening, Reese found herself staring at her laptop. She was sitting on her bed in her newly assigned quarters taking in all that had been told to her during the day. Anderson had pulled her back to Earth to continue her research the best she could but to also see about applying it to a ship. Of course her research wasn’t just any research. It centered around reverse engineering Geth and Reaper tech. And that ship just so happened to be the Normandy.</p><p>Apparently Cmdr. Shepard was going to be turning himself in soon and the ship would be confiscated by the Alliance. Hackett and Anderson had made it possible for him to come in quietly and for the Normandy to remain under their watch after the Alpha Relay Incident. As it turned out, Reese was going to be one of the ones in charge of retrofitting the SR2 to Alliance standards. Her former captain had also mentioned that Major Alenko would continue on his current classified assignment while he reported to the Council about Shepherd’s actions on Horizon.</p><p>She exhaled sharply and glanced at the time on the chronometer. It was almost 0030 hours. Surely he wasn’t still awake. He had never been one to stay up late, especially when he was on duty. He always liked to get up early. He only stayed up if there was still work to do or if something was bothering him.</p><p>Would he be waiting for her to message him? She had been free for the last 6 hours and decided she was still quite good at delaying doing anything she was hesitant about. Kaidan was one of those things. He had walked away from her nearly three years ago and now one brief encounter with him and a user name sent everything hard to port…</p><p> </p><p>^^^</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>September 23, 2183 CE, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Most of the Normandy’s crew still hadn’t been reassigned yet. In fact they were all being kept at Alliance HQ in Vancouver. It was nice to be around people who had been through what she had but it was a constant reminder too. Waiting for orders wasn’t helping either…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Reese looked out the window of her small quarters and sighed. Maybe she and Kaidan could go out again. He had been in a particularly bad mood recently. It was survivor’s guilt. They all had it. Shepherd, their commanding officer was dead, and they had survived—most of them. It wasn’t fair. It didn’t seem real…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kaidan was taking it harder because he had obeyed Shepard’s last order. Get everyone else off the ship instead of going after Joker. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Reese sighed and realized it would take the L2 a long time to overcome the guilt and she had started to wonder if even she could help him…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Suddenly the door chimed, signaling someone was at her door. She called out for the visitor to enter and the door slid open to reveal Lt. Kaidan Alenko. She turned to greet him with a smile which melted as soon as he saw his face. His carefully controlled expression wasn’t there. It was one of regret and sorrow.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kaidan?” she asked as she quickly crossed the distance between them. He entered the room and the door slid closed behind him. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He shook his head. Something was very wrong. Their relationship had progressed so far in such a small amount of time but now he seemed to be almost afraid of it…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I…I can’t, Reese,” Alenko said quietly. “I don’t know why I’m here. I shouldn’t be…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kaidan, Shepard gave his life so we could live and keep his memory alive, so we could keep fighting his fight,” the tech replied as she placed a hand lightly on his forearm. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He jumped at her touch. She pulled back at his reaction. He had never acted that way before even when he felt awkward about their budding romance. Kaidan reached for her and pulled her back to him quickly. He held her to his chest, an arm wrapped tightly around her waist, the other tangled in her long dark hair. He buried his face in her shoulder and whispered, “I’m no good for you like this, Reese. I’ll just hurt you like I hurt everyone I care about. I don’t want that. I want you to be happy.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Reese held on to him just as tightly as she said, “I am happy. You make me happy. Being with you is helping me get through everything. Why do you think you’ll hurt me?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Because that’s what I do. I hurt people and let them down. And Shepard is dead because of it,” he said as he pulled away. “I want better for you…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kaidan,” she said as she got a bad feeling. “Don’t—“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m sorry,” the L2 replied as he kissed her tenderly. “I’m sorry. You’re better off without me, Kori.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kaidan, don’t…please.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She watched as he walked away without acknowledging her plea. He hesitated as he reached the door and then said, “You mean the world to me. I can’t let anything happen to you because of me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>With that he left her alone in her quarters wondering how he could think leaving her would make things better. She had lost her home for the second time in her life when the SR1 went down. Her adopted family to be reassigned. The man she had fallen for gone. How was that going to make things better?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Reese let loose a biotic warp, smashing a potted plant on the other side of the room. Kaidan Alenko could be stubborn but so could she. Ignoring the tears the trickled down her cheeks, she promised herself she would be better, but she would never leave someone she cared about behind. Ever. She would be better.</em>
</p><p>^^^</p><p>Screw it, Reese thought as she typed his private address in. <em>techboy_sr1</em> Three years ago it had been <em>techgeek_sr1</em> but times changed she guessed. The thing was <em>techboy </em>had been her nickname for him and he was using it even after everything.</p><p>The curser blinked at her waiting for her to type an actual message. Maybe she could just leave a message and he wouldn’t respond right away. Why was she willing to talk to him anyway? Because he hadn’t asked for her address. He was given her the option to talk to him or ignore him. But the expression on his face and the storm of emotions in his whiskey colored eyes that afternoon had told her he desperately wanted to talk to her again. Would she give him that chance?</p><p>Suddenly her fingers started typing of their own free will.</p><p>
  <em>I would like to talk to you when you are free. Just contact me at this username. Reese</em>
</p><p>The Lt. Cmdr. let out the breath she had been holding and closed her eyes. There. She had sent it. Now the ball was in his court. She thought about going to sleep when her laptop beeped.</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I can talk now…kori13</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I thought you would be asleep</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: no. couldn’t sleep. You?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: finishing paperwork</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: really?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: yes…no…sort of</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: thought so</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Couldn’t sleep…too much going on</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Anderson told you about Shepard</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I had a meeting with him after you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: You have a special assignment too</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Have had one. Just moved earth side for awhile</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Same here with the retrofit and all</em>
</p><p>
  <em>……</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Are you still there?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah just wondering what to say…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You don’t have to say anything</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Kori13: It’s been a long time…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know…it’s my fault</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Not everything is your fault</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: This is</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Why?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Because I walked away from the best thing that ever happened to me</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Alenko…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You should get some sleep now. I’ve got your username now. I’ll contact you later. Goodnight Kori</em>
</p><p>Before she could respond, he signed off and the screen went blank. Looking at the black screen, the Lt. Cmdr. wondered what she had just started. He had used his nickname for her. No one else had ever called her that. She was Reese to everyone else except Anderson and her grandmother. They were the only ones she tolerated the name <em>Kora</em> from. He remembered it either way. Had he used it deliberately or was it a slip? She sighed. Only time would tell.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Sunday February 26, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>A day and a half later, Reese had a much better understanding of her new assignment. Anderson was entrusting her and several others with the Cerberus designed<em> Normandy</em> SR2. The goal was to reverse engineer anything Cerberus might have designed that offered an advantage to the Alliance. Specifically, Anderson wanted to know if anything the terrorist group had come up with was usable against the Reapers. Secondly, he wanted to know if any other improvements could be applied to other Alliance ships. The SR2 would be retrofitted to Alliance standards and would serve as the Admiral’s flagship.</p><p>No pressure. Just take something Cerberus had designed and make it Alliance compliant. Well, that and add any and all upgrades Reese’s past research with the Quarians had uncovered. Modifications from the Geth and what little they had recovered from Sovereign would be incorporated as well as some experimental modifications Reese and Specialist Samantha Traynor had compiled so far. Right now they were just going over the preliminary data from the SR2 to formulate an outline of what could be done as well as what <em>needed</em> to be done.</p><p>The curser blinked at her waiting patiently for her to continue the report. She was almost done but her mind had decided to wander back to the project Anderson had put her one over four years ago. The development of the SR1 with the Turians. <em>That</em> had been his way of pulling her from R &amp; D and back into the field. If she hadn’t begrudgingly accepted the assignment she had no idea where she would have been today. She was certain she would never had met a certain L2 biotic.</p><p>The uncomplaining curser continued to blink at her reminding her that the conclusion to the report was still waiting to be written. As if to either aid her procrastination or stir up more memories the document was suddenly replaced by a new window. A chat box waited to be opened. <em>Incoming message of user: Techboy_sr1</em></p><p>Reese stared at it. He was reaching out again after he had cut her off. Was he going to apologize or blow her off again? She sighed. Only one way to find out. She pressed the accept button and braced herself for the worse.</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: are you free?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: yeah for a bit. what’s up?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I just wanted to apologize for the other night. I was rude to cut you off like that</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: We haven’t really talked in almost three years…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah. I…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Did you want to talk about anything specific or just have an awkward conversation</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well, I really just wanted to see if you were okay. With the way things are going…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I’m fine. It’s just been rough…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I…understand</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t want to fight</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Neither do I</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Then we won’t</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: So what are you doing now?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Going over the reports Shepard sent to Anderson about the Normandy…trying to send things in motion for the retrofit before everything goes to hell</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I see. I’m supposed to prepare all my notes and reports from Horizon to give to the Committee</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I think I like my job better</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I do too. Want to switch?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: No not really sorry</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Didn’t think you would. Doing anything else?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Wondering why I’m in charge</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Because you’re good at what you do and I hear tell that you’re the alliance’s version of Tali when it comes to geth and reaper tech nowadays</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I guess that’s one way to put it</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You still don’t like taking credit for things or taking compliments</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Nope</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Some things never change</em>
</p><p>
  <em>……</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: What are you doing now?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: …teaching</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Wait…teaching?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Umm yeah hard to believe isn’t it</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: A little…teaching what?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Second generation biotics how to control their powers</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: That…that’s good. I can see you doing that. You’d be a good teacher</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I wasn’t sure at first but it seems to be growing on me. The kids seem to like me well enough</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: What’s not to like? You’re fair and honest. You know when to push and when not to. I guess that’s why Anderson picked you for it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You still think that?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Well yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I thought that maybe you might—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Might what?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Might hate me. I deserve it</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I never hated you. I just never understood. I was angry, frustrated, hurt but I never hated</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: How could you not?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Because I didn’t think you knew what you were doing. I was never sure you really knew but I had to move on. I couldn’t stand still hoping you’d come back. So I did what you wanted me to do. I trained and made myself stronger…but…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: But what…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I wasn’t really happy without you until…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Look I’ve got to go. Deadlines and such. I’ll catch up with you later</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>*****</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Tuesday February 28, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Reese knew she had ended the chat abruptly over the weekend even though Kaidan had seemed like he wanted to talk. She just couldn’t bring herself to talk about or even think about where the conversation had been heading. Part of her wanted to talk to him, to get to know him again. Another part desperately didn’t want to think about what could have been either with him or anyone else. She had been on her own for one reason or another since her teens. Opening up to any one or admitting that she missed, or heaven forbid, needed them was one thing she had never been good at. Losing Kaidan and some of the crew of the SR1 had done nothing to help with that. Losing others to the Collectors’ systematic invasion of human colonies in the Terminus Systems had not helped either.</p><p>The Lt. Commander knew she was being a coward. She had pointedly not called him back, afraid of what else the conversations with him would bring up. Either things he didn’t know about her during the past three years or things he had done she knew nothing of. Right now she was operating under an ignorance was bliss mantra. Of course, her computer seemed to have other ideas.</p><p>Once again the chat notification had appeared informing her that the Major wanted to talk. She growled as her stalling. She knew ignoring it wouldn’t change anything. Things were different. <em>They</em> were different. <em>He</em> was trying…</p><p>She tapped the accept button once again, pushing back her doubts and insecurities. Nothing would get solved that way. She couldn’t talk to him if <em>she</em> didn’t try.</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Are you there?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Ah yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Is this weird for you too after all this time</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: A little…do you want to stop?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: No</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I don’t either</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: That’s good…so what are you doing?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Eating lunch…in between classes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: How’s that going</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Pretty good…some of the kids don’t like being on earth</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: They having problems adjusting?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: A little…I brought some of the more advanced kids with me. The others are still back on station</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Where?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: A place like grissom but alliance classified</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Okay…you’re okay with all this right?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: What…yeah why wouldn’t I be?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Vyrnnus</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well yeah there is that kind of always hanging over my head but they don’t seem to mind</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: They know?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah I was up front with them the first day but most of them already knew</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: As long as you are okay. I know that was always a tender subject for you…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I’m better now…you helped with that</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Are you still…never mind</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: What is it?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t want to fight. It’s not important now</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, you’re still important to me. I know that’s not fair to lay on you but I want you to know…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>……</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: The students are coming back. I have to go…I’ll talk to you later</em>
</p><p>
  *****
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Wednesday March 1, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Alenko on line</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: You are such a geek</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You wouldn’t have me any other way</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: …nope</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I’m on lunch now. You?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Staring at a line of code and banging my head on the desk. Nothing unusual</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Still trying that head banging thing? I thought by now you’d know that doesn’t really work</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Call me stubborn</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Stubborn</em>
  <em>J</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Did you just type a smiley face</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I’m telling</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Who?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Everyone</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Doesn’t matter</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Why not?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: They know I’m a big softie anyways thanks to Joker…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Damn. Never mind</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Do you think things will ever be the same?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: The same? No but we might pretty close, if you wanted to try. Or am I reading you wrong…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: No, you are right. But do you want to be friends?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: So do you want to keep talking like this?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yes, how about at lunch about now or so? Does that work for you?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Most of the time</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Okay. I’ll contact you tomorrow and we can start from there. Okay?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay…until then</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Thursday April 13, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Over the next few weeks Alenko and Reese developed a pattern of messaging each other during their lunch breaks. It became something of a routine for them, something to look forward to. They didn’t fight, they didn’t bring up the past much, they didn’t assign blame. They just talked about nothing and everything.</p><p>The two former SR1 crewmembers refrained from suggesting meeting face-to-face again. It seemed to be mutually understood that they were both hesitant to see each other in person once more. The safety net that the chat provided made things simpler and more comfortable. There were less expectations, just the knowledge that the other would be on the other end typing back because they wanted to. During it this way allowed them to get to know one another again. That routine changed when Kaidan called her one night with news.</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Hey, I didn’t wake you did I?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: It’s only 1930, so no you didn’t. what’s up?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I have to go back to the ‘school’ for a while…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Oh</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: We can still chat if you want</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Okay</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I have to oversee some tests for some new recruits and see if the others are ready to move to the next level. Anderson said the committee would want me back planet side afterward though.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I see</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You’re giving me short answers. What’s wrong?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Nothing</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Bull</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I got used to you being here</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: In a way that’s kind of funny since we only talk to each other via chat</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Well yeah but you’re still here…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You know we could start vid chatting. That would be the next logical step.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: You and logic</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yep. What do you think? We could start when I get back or when I get to the school…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>……</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese? You still there?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I’m thinking</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Oh, is that good or bad?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I think it’s good</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: So you’re up for it when I get back?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: No</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: But you said—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: After you get to your school thingy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: School thingy?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Well you never gave it a name so it’s a thingy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well it’s nice to know that hasn’t changed either</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: What</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You still use thingy for something you can’t name</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I could start calling you a thingy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Umm no thanks major or Alenko works just fine</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: What about Kaidan?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I wasn’t sure if we were still on a first name basis</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: We’ve been talking for almost two months. I think first names is okay</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: When do you leave</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: In two days</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Okay</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I promise I’ll keep in touch. We’ll set up a time that’s good for both of us</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I’ll hold you to that, major…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: What</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Be careful</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: It’s just teaching</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Not that. Things are happening and you can’t help but try to stop bad things from happening</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reminds me of you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know. I’ll be careful but you have to promise to do the same. I hear scuttlebutt that you’ll be going off world for some ‘research’</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Maybe</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I promise</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay, I’ll let you go. I’ll contact you soon. Take care</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: You too</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>*****</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Saturday April 22, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth/ Classified Systems Alliance outpost, location: unknown</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Reese sat at her desk in her apartment staring at the video screen. At some point in the next hour, Alenko would be calling. Not chatting, but an honest to goodness video chat. The better part of her morning had been spent trying to decide what to wear and how to style her hair. Scolding herself over and over at her antics, she finally settled on an old faded Alliance tee shirt and jeans. Her hair was down, flung over her shoulders.</p><p>Being ready for the last hour had only caused Reese’s anxiety to grow. What if this was a bad idea? What if he changed his mind? What if he introduced a girlfriend he had on the station he taught on? Why did she care? Why did the shelves of books behind her chair look so chaotic?</p><p>Ignoring all the other questions, she rose from the desk deciding to focus on the last one. Trying to pass the time by straightening up the bookshelf, she focused on her task, refusing to entertain any negative thoughts. He had been trying. That should count for something shouldn’t it? Yes, he had left her and yes, they hadn’t talked in nearly three years, but things—people could change. She certainly had. It was only fair to assume he had as well.</p><p>Her thoughts were interrupted when the computer beeped. She turned to see a message box pop up<em>. Incoming VidChat request from user: Techboy_sr1</em></p><p>Reese dropped the books and quickly made her way to the desk. Sitting down, she took an extra couple of seconds to straighten her dark wavy hair. She rolled her eyes at her actions and then pressed the ‘accept’ button.</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Can you read me?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah, let me just adjust the—there we go. I can see you now</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I can see you too…and it’s a nice sight by the way</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Major, are you attempting to flirt with me</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well, actually yes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I think you could use some more practice</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well I haven’t had much opportunity to</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I heard you were dating a doctor</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: That umm didn’t last very long</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: So you didn’t get much practice after all</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well no, but scuttlebutt has it that you got some practice in and not from me </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan, I—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I don’t want to fight. You weren’t there. I wasn’t there…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I know. I don’t want to talk about that…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay we won’t.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>…….</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: how about how you’re settling in then?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: It’s good to be back. But I—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: But what—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I kind of miss being there</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Why</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Because you’re there</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: We never saw each other, just messaging</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah but as you said we were still near by</em>
</p><p>
  <em>….</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: It’s good to see you, Kaidan</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Maybe it’s good to be seen again</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You know…my mom keeps asking about you even after…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Umm well there might be a reason for that…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese, what did you do?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: They didn’t tell you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Tell me what</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: After you went away, they contacted me. They wanted to know if you were okay or if you had been put on a classified assignment. I just told them you had gone on leave for a while. They didn’t believe me but left it alone…But when they couldn’t get a hold of you again they kept calling me…I had to tell them what was going on…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: They are still talking to you aren’t they</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Well yes, not as much but they like to check in. Especially your mom. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I think they adopted you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan I didn’t mean to try and overstep…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: It’s okay. I know you didn’t. My mom’s always been afraid that I’d wind up a workaholic and alone.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>….</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I guess she was right</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: No she wasn’t. Your future is what you make it Kaidan. You used to believe that</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I think I need someone to smack me upside the head for that to happen again</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I could arrange that when you get back</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Really? That means you’d have to actually be near me</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Are you trying to invent an excuse for me to actually come meet you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well, maybe partly but I’m not pushing for it just yet. We seem to be getting along just fine this way</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Baby steps?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Baby steps.</em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(VidChat exchanges are denoted by Reese and Alenko's user names and italics just as with text chatting. I kept it this way just for the sake of continuity and the style I had begun in the previous chapters.)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Tuesday May 16, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth/ Classified Systems Alliance outpost, location: unknown</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p>The Vid Chats with Alenko had become a welcomed distraction as Reese worked on the SR2. Taking something Cerberus had put so much work into and making it usable for the Alliance gave her a great sense of satisfaction. Even before her time about the first <em>Normandy</em>, she had been well acquainted with the human terrorist group. One of their staged accidents over a colony world had taken the lives of many innocents including her parents. Conatix claimed it was a mechanical failure of the delivery ship that just so happened to have eezo as cargo. She had never believed it and spent the better part of her adult life trying to end those connected to Conatix and Cerberus whenever and how ever she could. The company may have folded shortly after BAaT was shut down but that didn’t mean the individuals involved didn’t find new way to cause trouble.</p><p>Regardless of that, making the SR2 an Alliance ship was something Reese had begun to take pride in. She and Joker were the only ones working on the project from the original <em>Normandy</em>. Joker was escorted at all times by guards due to his previous work for Cerberus. Anderson had assured her that sooner or later the guards would be removed. Whatever their past was, Reese didn’t see the man leaving the SR2 or Shepard behind.</p><p>Engineer Adams was slated to join the team after completing his current assignment on Arcturus Station. Hackett had him overseeing improvements to the fleet’s drive cores. Apparently Anderson and Hackett had been working in secret to ready the Alliance for a fight with the Reapers the best way they could. With the Council still stalling any official actions from occurring, the two Admirals worked within the regs to upgrade the fleets as they could.</p><p>Reese was eager to share the progress their team had made on the SR2 with Kaidan. She would use that as an excuse to disguise her giddiness. She was happy to talk to him, to see him and talk to him almost everyday now. She hadn’t told him that, but would it matter? Did he feel the same? He smiled and seemed more open all these weeks later.</p><p>
  <em>What if you saw him in person again? Would he want that? Do I want that? </em>
</p><p>She set her jaw as she waited for him to call her. <em>I want to know why he has more gray hair. I want to know if he ever told his parents what really happened. I want to know what happened between him and Shepard on Horizon. I want to know if he still likes old Earth movies and music. I want to know what he wants from me. I want to know if he still wants more—</em></p><p>The Vid Chat she’d been waiting for blinked onto her screen. <em>Techboy_sr1. </em></p><p>She could continue to hid or she could say what was on her mind. She hit the button to accept.</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: So how’s things going on your end</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: The Normandy is at least not orange anymore and the damned Cerberus logos are gone</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Orange. Really?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: So what color is it now</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Standard alliance blue of course</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Of course</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: They are moving the armory from the CIC deck to the launch bay</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Say what?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah Cerberus for all their superior talk had the armory on the command and control deck instead of the launch bay. Made gearing up for missions fun I guess.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: That’s stupid. How did shepard put up with that</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t think that was one of the things he had a choice about</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: How is he</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Not sure. All Anderson will tell me is that he’s safe and running the numbers while he waits</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Making plans even in jail</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: It’s a nice jail cell according to Anderson</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah well it’s still a jail cell</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah…Kaidan why won’t you tell me what you’re really doing? What does Anderson really have you doing?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I’m teaching…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: And I’m in charge of </em>
  <em>the 1st Special Operations Biotic Company, a covert operations unit.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Well that’s different</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>You wanted to know</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>So you’ve got your own little band of biotics you’re training the right way</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>The right way?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>The right way, Kaidan. Anderson knew what he was doing when he asked you to do take on that op.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>You’re still trying to encourage me even after everything</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Why not? But I’m not so sure you need it anymore. You’ve changed. You’re stronger, more sure.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>I had to lose a lot for that to happen. I’m not sure it was worth it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>What if you didn’t lose everything?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>What—what do you mean</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>What if you—we tried to…fix things</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Between us?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>I want that but…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>No buts Kaidan. Yes or no</em>
</p><p>
  <em>…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Then I’ll see you when you get back.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>*****</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Sunday June 4, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth/ Classified Systems Alliance outpost, location: unknown</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p>An urgent beeping from her omni-tool alerted her to the fact someone desperately wanted to talk to her despite it being well after midnight. Since her emergency alert hadn’t gone off it wasn’t of any major concern to the Alliance and the VI on the Normandy hadn’t alerted her to anything wrong there. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she pulled her laptop from where she had it charging on the nightstand towards her. <em>Techboy_sr1.</em></p><p>Kaidan never called her in the middle of the night. He hadn’t since they had started talking again. The last time it had happened was on the SR1 during a surprise attack by the Geth during the middle of the ship’s night cycle. He had pinged her to get to battle stations while he went to the cockpit. That had been years ago. Still he was too polite to call in the dead of night without a good reason.</p><p>Fighting back a yawn, she answered the call, keeping the lights off. She was greeted by the image of a shirtless Kaidan sitting in what looked to be a bed. His hair disheveled from sleep, his expression haunted.</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Hey what’s up? Its late…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Nothing I forgot we’re on the same time as earth and you’re actually asleep…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>It’s okay, Kaidan. What is it?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Nothing. I should let you go</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>No. you called for a reason. What’s wrong</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>It’s…I can’t sleep</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Migraines?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>No</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Stress</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>No</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Thinking about a hot chick</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>No…well, yes, but I like those dreams</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Uh huh, I bet you do. So is it nightmares then?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Umm, yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>The Normandy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yeah but with the reapers thrown in. they were attacking earth</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Have you talked to any one</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>No</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Maybe you should</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>No…no I don’t want to…except you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Kaidan, I’m a tech not a psychiatrist</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>I don’t need one. I just want a friend to talk to</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Well, then I’m here</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Even though you’re supposed to be asleep?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Doesn’t matter</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Are you sure</em>
</p><p>
  
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>You said you wanted to try, Kaidan. It’s a two-way street. I want to try to…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Okay</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>So tell me about it</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Well…</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>*****</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Wednesday June 21, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth/ Classified Systems Alliance outpost, location: unknown</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>A little over two weeks after the call in the middle of the night, Alenko called again. He had been doing better during that time but had admitted to nightmares from the time the SR1 went down. They weren’t as prevalent as they had been once upon a time, but they were still troubling. And true to his nature, he’d kept it all bottled up not telling a sole because he didn’t want to be a bother or have someone think he was turning into a crazy L2. Reese hoped talking to her finally had helped.</p><p>This call while not in the middle of the night was still later than they normally chatted. It was about bedtime for her when he pinged her for the second time that day. She pushed down the dread that something was wrong as she accepted the call. The first words out of his mouth let her know all was well, if she didn’t count the aggravation she started to feel towards him.</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Alenko online</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Why do you do that</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>To annoy you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>You’re doing a good job</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Well, I’ll make it up to you next week</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Next week? How? You’re two relay jumps away…I think</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>I am but that doesn’t matter. I’ll be back on earth in about 5 days or so</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Really? Why?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Well, don’t sound so excited to see me</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>See you?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yeah. I thought we might actually see each other when I got back…it might have to wait a day while I give the committee a talking to and Anderson wants me to move my class planet side for awhile</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Shepard?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yeah</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>I heard they were starting to set things in motion for an actual ‘hearing’</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yeah Anderson said something along those lines with about the same level of enthusiasm </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>I don’t think anyone is looking forward to that farce </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Have you been able to talk to him or anything</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>No</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Thought so</em>
</p><p>
  <em>……</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Well this turned depressing</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yeah not the best way to start a call where you’re trying to ask your one-time girlfriend on a date</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>….did you just say what I think you said?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>I don’t know. What do you think I said?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>I think you said that you were trying to ask me out on a date</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>That would be an affirmative</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>You know I think only you can make military jargon sound sexy</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Why thank you…I think</em>
</p><p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>So what do you think?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>I think maybe we should start with coffee</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>You don’t drink coffee</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Well, no but—</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>White chocolate cappuccino then</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>…you remember</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Of course I do</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>You want an Irish coffee?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>Yeah. If I can get away with it or maybe a Kentucky Bourbon coffee. That’s a close second.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kori13: </em>
  <em>Ummm, then I’ll see you when you get back…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: </em>
  <em>I look forward to it</em>
</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Tuesday June 27, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Reese glanced around the café Kaidan had suggested they meet at. It was in the commercial district of the Vancouver-Seattle megaplex and very busy. It had taken her 25 minutes just to get to the café and make sure it was the right one after the air taxi had dropped her off. She hated crowds almost as much as Kaidan did, but he had insisted they had the best cappuccinos in the city. He had grown up there so he must know. At least she hoped…</p><p>She sat at a table for two in the corner waiting for the Major to appear. He was usually the one early and she late but not this time. The Lt. Cmdr. was starting to wonder if he had begun to have second thoughts; she had. But she still came.</p><p>Reese glanced at the chrono on her omni-tool. Fifteen minutes late. Did she call him? Message him? Leave a note with the waiter? Just leave and forget about the whole thing?</p><p>She let out a frustrated growl as she propped her forehead against her hand. Could things possibly get more complicated? Suddenly her omni-tool signaled that she had a message. Sighing she opened it up guessing it was a ‘sorry couldn’t make it’ text. The holo screen popped up and read, “<em>Look up</em>.”</p><p>Frowning the tech glanced up to find a tee shirt and blue jean clad Kaidan Alenko standing before her. He smiled down at her as he held onto a black leather jacket slung over his shoulder. “Hey there.”</p><p>“Hey yourself,” she replied as she scooted the opposite chair out for him with her foot.  “You’re late, Alenko.”</p><p>“Would you believe traffic?” he asked hopefully as he eyed her own outfit. She wore a pair of jeans too but sported a blue tank top covered by a fitted jean jacket. The sentinel’s appreciative gaze was not lost on her.</p><p>She decided to give him a break and replied, “I’ll believe you. It took me a while too.”</p><p>An expression of relief appeared on his face as he asked, “Thanks. Have you ordered anything?”</p><p>“No. That would have been rude,” Reese replied with a smile as she noticed Kaidan was still ‘<em>taking in the view.</em>’ “Is there something I can help you with, Major? You seem to be concentrating very hard on something…”</p><p>Kaidan’s face instantly turned red as he cleared his throat. “I, umm, couldn’t help but notice how amazing you look…”</p><p>She cocked an eyebrow as she brought up the virtual menu. “Thank you.”</p><p>“You’re welcome,” he said as he started looking at the screen. After a moment he glanced back at her and asked, “So you’re not going to hit me?”</p><p>Reese snorted and said, “No, I’m not going to hit you, you big baby.”</p><p>Kaidan began to protest the name-calling and she added softly, “You were being nice…”</p><p>“It was more than being nice, Reese. I meant it. You look beautiful,” he said sincerely as he watched her play with her hair. She wore the long dark locks in a loose side pony tail. Her hair was nearly down to her waist now. Three years ago it had only been to just below her shoulders.</p><p>Kaidan grinned as he realized as much as things had changed many things had stayed the same. They sat in silence for several long minutes, each keying in their orders. Finally, after the menu disappeared, she said, “You’re looking good too, Kaidan. Actually it’s given several of the girls I work with plenty of gossip fodder.”</p><p>He looked at her closely and said, “You’re…embarrassed. Aren’t you?”</p><p>“I didn’t say that,” the tech denied without looking him in the eye.</p><p>“You didn’t have to. Everything else did,” he replied with a smirk. “Kora Reese is actually embarrassed.”</p><p>“No and don’t use that name,” she snapped.</p><p>Kaidan held up his hand in surrender. “Okay. Fine. You’re uncomfortable then, Lt. Cmdr. But why?”</p><p>“Kaidan…”</p><p>“Don’t <em>Kaidan</em> me. We’ve been talking for months and now I find out you’re uncomfortable. <em>Embarrassed</em> more likely and I’m the cause of it,” Alenko snapped as he slumped against the back of his chair.</p><p>“No, that’s not it…I just…I’ve never liked people knowing my business I guess,” Reese replied quietly. “I’m not…They’ve seen me talking to you on the vid chat and I got used to working alone except Tali…and she doesn’t tease…a lot…I just don’t—I didn’t mean—“</p><p>“Reese, you’re rambling,’ Alenko said calmly, his own annoyance subsiding.</p><p>She looked at him with cloudy grey eyes. “I don’t want to fight, Kaidan. I just want to…spend time with you, get to know you again.”</p><p>“I want that too, Reese,” he replied reaching across the table with an opened hand.</p><p>She looked into his whiskey colored eyes and then at his hand. Smiling she took it and said, “It’s a step.”</p><p>“Baby steps, remember?” he said as their order arrived.</p><p>She nodded. Maybe old wounds could heal…</p><p>^^^^^</p><p> </p><p>“So is this the end of our ‘coffee’ date then?” Kaidan asked as he kicked the pavement with his boot.</p><p>“Well, technically yes, but I…it’s doesn’t really have to be…” Reese replied slowly as she looked at his boot. He did look really good out of uniform…</p><p>Alenko snapped his head up to look at the Lt. Cmdr. in surprise. “What does that mean?”</p><p>She looked up shyly at him. “I…I’m not exactly sure but I don’t think I want to end our date just yet.”</p><p>“Reese, I don’t want to push—“</p><p>“Kaidan, you were never able to push me into anything…except maybe a wall and that led to other things…” she interrupted and then trailed off as soon as she remembered what she was saying.</p><p>The Major hesitantly reached for her hand and offered, “We could go somewhere else. It’s still light out. There’s a park…and a beach but that’s too far—“</p><p>“We’ve been to a park and I’m not going to the beach without a swim suit,” she replied as he started to withdraw his hand.</p><p>“We could go back to one of our places…” she added as she grabbed his hand.</p><p>“Reese, I’m not sure that’s…”</p><p>“Kaidan, if you don’t want to—“</p><p>“Oh no, Reese, I didn’t say that. It’s just…after everything…”</p><p>“Kaidan, we both said we wanted another chance, but we have to be able to take hold of it…”</p><p> Suddenly she found herself pulled into Kaidan’s strong embrace, one hand wrapped tightly around her waist, the other cradling the base of her head. She felt his five o’clock shadow graze her face as he lightly kissed her cheek. Reese found herself returning the embrace without hesitation and sighed.</p><p> After what seemed like an eternity, Kaidan whispered into her ear, “We’re drawing attention, Kori.”</p><p>She pulled away and looked around. Apparently the passersby had nothing better to do than stare, but Reese thought that she heard Kaidan’s name repeated several times.  She snorted and said softly, “I think you’ve got a fanbase, Major.”</p><p>He looked around more closely himself and retorted, “Maybe they like the hot chick I’m with.”</p><p>“Don’t call me a <em>chick</em>, techboy,” she cautioned as he began leading her by the hand away towards an air taxi call point.</p><p>“I love it when you’re bossy,” Kaidan said as he signaled for a taxi.</p><p>She laughed and replied, “Patience, techboy, patience.”</p><p>^^^^^</p><p> </p><p>Alenko woke up in an unfamiliar place on an unfamiliar couch with something warm next to him. He blinked back the sleep and glanced beside him. He found Reese spooned up against him, her head resting on his shoulder, her hair spilling across his chest. He reached down and caressed her check. They had fallen asleep at her apartment watching old 20<sup>th</sup> century movies.</p><p>She stirred slightly and then smiled. “Kaid.”</p><p>He couldn’t help but smile at the use of her nick name for him. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’m here, Kori.”</p><p>“Don’t leave,” she said sleepily, curling up to him.</p><p>He couldn’t decide if she was awake or not. He wasn’t sure what to say. Everything had been so jumbled and then he’d run into her by chance and now here he was on her couch with her. Instead he settled for hugging her tightly to his chest as he ran a hand through her long dark hair. He had missed playing with the long-tangled tresses. The few times they had truly been alone he had even brushed it for her which usually led to something else. He’d never admit to anyone how much of a thing he had for her long hair, but it wasn’t like it was a secret to her.</p><p>As he continued to play with her wavy locks, she stirred again. This time she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Her grey eyes were calm and content as she placed a hand on his cheek. “You stayed.”</p><p>“Yeah,” he said simply with a grin meant only for her.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“You’re welcome.”</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Wednesday June 28, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The morning after Kaidan stayed the night at her apartment found Reese in unfamiliar territory. It had been purely by accident, Reese thought. They both fell asleep on her couch watching old 20<sup>th</sup> century movies Kaidan had grown up on. His mother apparently was a 20<sup>th</sup> century junkie when it came to movies and music. At least one of her questions had been answered; he still was a nerd for the stuff.</p>
<p>The Major reluctantly left early that morning, saying he needed to get his kids used to the new routine he planned for their stay on Earth. They hugged albeit awkwardly, still not used to the proximity of the other. The day before—hell, the night before had seemed so much simpler. Now what? How did they proceed? What did it all mean?</p>
<p>Reese as usual remained frozen at her front door as Kaidan promised to text her later. She nodded mutely, unable to process what she should have do. The Major glanced back when she gave no verbal response, a look of confusion on his face. His whiskey colored eyes quickly took in the sight before him and his expression turned to one of amusement mixed with understanding.</p>
<p>Alenko tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Baby steps, remember?”</p>
<p>“Baby steps,” she echoed with a nod and a smile.</p>
<p>Now that he was gone, Reese realized she wanted more than just a kiss on the cheek. Baby steps be damned. She wanted him back. Despite all that had occurred, the way they had broken up, all the hurt she had gone through, all the doubts about herself she had overcome, all the emotional rollercoasters she had ridden since the SR1 had gone down. It mattered but then it didn’t. She knew if Kaidan hadn’t left her, she wouldn’t be the person she was today. He wouldn’t be the man he was today. What if it had been for the best? What if they hadn’t been ready to be with one another back then?</p>
<p>A beep from her omni-tool interrupted her internal monologue much to her relief. Sometimes her mind worked overtime to rationalize things or just see what kind of outlandish doubts and insecurities it could come up with much to her annoyance. <em>Message from Techboy_sr1</em></p>
<p>She couldn’t help the sappy grin that spread across her face. He’d been gone two hours and was already texting. She opened the message.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Your smile is literally the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life.”</em>
</p>
<p>It was just a message. It wasn’t a chat. He wasn’t waiting for a response. He had simply sent it to her. He probably knew full well what her reaction would be. The grin she wore from before grew wider.</p>
<p>Damn him. He probably planned that. Now she would be reporting for duty on the SR2 retrofit with a sappy-ass grin everyone would be asking her about. Before their coffee date she would have cared. Now she gave not one damn. She’d report to work with a stupid grin and be happy about it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>Reese adjusted the monitor in the space she had procured for herself onboard the Normandy. It once upon a time had been a storage area on the crew deck. She’d repurposed it once the CIC deck had been finished. Storage was now regulated to the deck 4-engineering and deck 5-shuttle bay. Cerberus really had no concept of how a military vessel should have been laid out was all she had to say.</p>
<p>Regardless, all the crews basic needs were now the focus of deck 3. The medbay was still undergoing a retrofit as well as the main canon battery. The sleeper pods were also being brought up to Alliance standards. Granted Cerberus had spared no expense when they initially crafted the ship but somethings only the Alliance could get right.</p>
<p>The one-time storage room now looked more like a college student’s dorm room. Furniture, belongings, technical notes and logs, spare parts. All were haphazardly thrown around the room. Most of the retrofit team had learned not to enter the room without knocking. They never knew what might greet them. Traynor and Joker were the only two brave enough to actually enter the room without announcing their presence. Kaidan would have thrown a fit if he saw it. Mister Organize-My-Underwear-Drawer-By-Color would have had a meltdown.</p>
<p>Hopefully the background didn’t reveal the true disaster behind her as he smiled as her via the VidChat. She took a breath and began their routine lunch chat.</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I wasn’t sure if we should still do this.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Why not? We still both get a lunch. We are still talking to one another. Right?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Well, yeah, but we…Last night…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Last night we fell asleep on your couch after watching the original Star Wars trilogy and before that we had coffee. Well, I had coffee and you had a cappuccino.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Hey, don’t Kaidan me when you are the acting like we shouldn’t VidChat anymore.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: That’s not—I want to, but you are here now for the foreseeable future.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I was before and we still texted.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: We didn’t have coffee and fall asleep on my couch.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese, if you are that uncomfortable with what happened last night we can just go back to just chatting. We don’t have to see each other in person again for a while.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t want that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Then what do you want?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>……</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I want to keep texting you and VidChatting with you and—I want to see you again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Then we will. You suggested what we do last time. I supplied the place. How about this time I suggest the activity and you pick the place?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You’d be okay with that?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Why wouldn’t I be? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t know. This is all weird. We never really went on dates before…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: We can fix that now. If you want to.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I want to.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Cool. I’ll send you an idea later.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Did you just say ‘cool’?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yep. Sure did.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You are such a dork.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I love it when you talk dirty.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Oh my—Really Kaidan?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I’ll text you later. I have kids coming back. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah. Right. Sure. Alenko. See you later.</em>
</p>
<p>The screen went black as he smirked at her. He still knew how to push her buttons after all this time. Reese relaxed in her seat as she stared at the blank screen. Another date. To tell the truth she had only gone on a few dates and most never went passed the first. Since the SR1, she had not traditionally dated anyone. There had only been one person and nothing they had engaged in qualified as a date. He wasn’t with them any longer. The Collectors had seen to that…</p>
<p>Her omni-tool beeped. <em>Message from Techboy-sr1.</em></p>
<p>Already, she thought. Opening the message, she rolled her eyes but grinned anyway.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Do not read the next sentence!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>You never could follow the rules.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I like you.”</em>
</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Saturday July 1, 2186 CE, GPS Coordinates:  46.995181, -121.915176, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Techboy, that is one big freaking mountain,” Reese commented as they stood at the Carbon River Ranger Station.</p>
<p>Alenko only chuckled. “I’m sorry that the mountains are a little bigger on this side of the continent.”</p>
<p>“Is that a slight at my Appalachian Mountains, Alenko? At least I don’t need a damned jacket all year round there,” she shot back. She was definitely not accustomed to snow and cold all the time. Spending her later childhood with her grandmother a couple of hours outside of Atlanta had not prepared her for cold like the Rockies had. “You Canadians are just weird.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, whatever, Reese,” the Major said was he turned to her. “I suggested hiking. <em>You</em> are the one who picked Mt. Rainier.”</p>
<p>She glared at him and began muttering under her breath. Of course he’d rub that in. The truth was she had never been to any place of significance in the Rockies, and he had talked a lot about visiting the mountains in the Cascade Range with his parents. He had a cabin somewhere out there, closer to the Seattle-Vancouver megaplex too. Either way it had always peaked her curiosity to see what he had.</p>
<p>Gloved hands appeared before her, pulling her coat closed more, adjusting her scarf. She glanced up to see whiskey colored eyes looking at her. “I’ve got an extra sweater in the car if you need it.”</p>
<p>She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. “Kaidan, I was just griping…”</p>
<p>“Yes. I know<em>. I remember</em>. You don’t like cold. You don’t like snow. You don’t like ice. You don’t like—”</p>
<p>“Okay, Alenko. I get it,” she retorted backing away, throwing her hands up. “You remember what I hate.”</p>
<p>Kaidan cocked his head. With a thoughtful expression, he said quietly, “I remember what you like too. You like to go hiking. We did it on shore leave before…”</p>
<p>Reese stared at him for a long silent moment. He <em>did</em> remember. He <em>had</em> planned this—the date…to go hiking, to do something she liked. He was trying to do something for her, to make her comfortable and here she was complaining about the cold. Why did she continue to focus on the unimportant things, continue to entertain doubts about him when he was obviously trying so hard?</p>
<p>She let out a growl. “Why do I keep doing that?”</p>
<p>Kaidan raised an eyebrow. “Because you are incredibly stubborn with trust issues. None of which was helped by what I did…”</p>
<p>“Kaidan.”</p>
<p>“Look, I know we have a lot to work through. Believe me I know that,” the Major said as he held up a hand. “But I also know that we are something. I don’t know what…”</p>
<p>He paused trying to gather his thoughts. He motioned between them. “Whatever we are it’s not simple…We never really were I guess…But friends—either back then or here and now…friends don’t look at each other like we do…So what are we?”</p>
<p>Reese glanced over his shoulder to the beautiful view of Mt. Rainier. Something she had wanted to see because of him. Now she wanted their tentative friendship to be more because of him. Years later she still wanted him.</p>
<p>Focusing back on the patiently waiting man in front of her she said, “It’s a mountain.”</p>
<p>The confused expression that resulted on the Canadian’s face was priceless. In a rather dumbfounded tone, he nodded, “Uh, yeah. It’s a mountain. Has been for a long time.”</p>
<p>The Lt. Commander chuckled as she shook her head. “Not that one,” she corrected pointing at Mt. Rainer and then to each of them. “<em>We</em> are the mountain.”</p>
<p>“Reese, I may be many things but dumb is not one of them…I think,” Kaidan stated evenly as he jammed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “It’s either a bad attempt at some sort of poem or sonnet or something or more likely it just flat out makes no sense.”</p>
<p>“Our relationship—whatever it is—it’s like a mountain. It can be climbed. It might take a while to get to the top but when you get there, the view is worth it.”</p>
<p>She watched as he narrowed his eyes. “So you’re saying even though it might take a while to figure it out, it’s worth. <em>Baby steps</em>?”</p>
<p>“Baby steps,” she echoed with a nod. “Something I need to remember. Maybe I should stick a note with those words to my forehead. Or maybe just a tattoo. Joker says I’d be intimidating with a tattoo.”</p>
<p>Kaidan pursued his lips as he gestured for them to walk to the trailhead. “Nah, I don’t think so. I like the view <em>without</em> a tattoo.”</p>
<p>“You haven’t seen the view in a couple of years. Maybe it’s changed,” Reese teased as the snow crunched under their feet.</p>
<p>“Mmmmm, I don’t think so. At least not that much,” Kaidan remarked as Mt. Rainier loomed ahead of them. “I won’t know till we reach the top though, will I?”</p>
<p>Reese stopped in her tracked as Kaidan gave her a cheeky grin. “You—You would have never said that on the SR1.”</p>
<p>“Probably not,” the Major said as he reached for her hand with a grin. “But sometimes times I have to learn things the hard way.”</p>
<p>She took his hand as they resumed their hike. “What did you learn?”</p>
<p>“A lesson I thought I had already learned,” Kaidan said quietly keeping his eyes focused on the mountain. “I thought I should have been able to fix everything after BAaT, that I had to. I fell back into that when the SR1 went down…I was wrong. I wanted to blame myself for everything…I just took the easy way out instead of trying to face the reality…I was afraid of what it all would mean, that you would look at me like Rahna—”</p>
<p>“Kaidan, I never thought that—”</p>
<p>He squeezed her hand. “I know that <em>now</em>. But I…My mom pulled me aside amongst other things and told me to forget about all the reasons why it wouldn’t work and believe the one reason why it would…She wasn’t just talking about you but my career. I was trying to play it safe and that wasn’t what I really wanted…”</p>
<p>“What did you—”</p>
<p>“I took the assignment on Horizon and then with the 1st Special Operations Biotic Company…I shut down after the<em> Normandy</em>…I can’t do that anymore…”</p>
<p>Reese waited a moment to see if he were going to speak again. Finally she asked, “Can I talk now?”</p>
<p>He glanced over at her in confusion. “What?”</p>
<p>“You cut me off <em>twice</em> before I could say anything,” she answered holding up two fingers to punctuate the point.</p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>“Uh huh,” she scolded. “<em>Anyway</em>…Like I said, it’s a mountain and I thought we were going to try to climb it…<em>together</em>.”</p>
<p>His eyes widened. “The real one or the metaphorical one?”</p>
<p>“Why not both? I like a challenge,” she noted with a shrug, feeling her confidence slow come back. He had been through a lot since their breakup as well. Knowing it hadn’t been all sunshine and puppies for him, helped her a little bit. It wasn’t because he had been hurting like her but because he realized he had made a mistake that affected his whole life and took steps to fix it one thing at a time.</p>
<p>“Are you implying I am challenging?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t say that.”</p>
<p>“But you are implying it.”</p>
<p>She smirked but said nothing. Kaidan made a noise of annoyance but kept pace with her along the trail, his hand never leaving hers. Nothing was going to stop her from enjoying a real day off with him. Even though what he had admitted to her answered a lot of questions it also stirred up feelings she had thought she had dealt with. Either way, she chose to ignore them for now focusing on the rather large mountain in front of them and the L2 biotic trudging along next to her. Baby steps, remember?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Friday July 7, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Reese and the rest of the retrofit crew had come far in their project since March. The CIC itself was complete. Traynor was tweaking things as she reviewed what they had changed. Little things here and there. Adams was much the same down in engineering. He had expressed his awe at the drive core Cerberus had incorporated into the SR2 but added his own things. She would always trust his experience over Cerberus. Always.</p>
<p>Joker itched to take the Normandy out on test flights whenever he could. No guards flanked him wherever he went now. Finally she could talk to the pilot without worrying whether his guards reported only to Anderson or someone on the Council overseeing Shepard’s yet-to-beheld hearing. In the past week she had called him out on his knowledge of EDI. The supposed VI that was much too helpful, too knowledgeable, to personable. Hesitantly, the pilot confirmed that EDI was an AI but wasn’t a threat. If anything, he seemed super protective of her and yes, Monroe referred to the Cerberus AI as a female.</p>
<p>Traynor and Adams had expressed similar suspicions about the VI but only to her. No one was interesting in giving the Council anything more to use on Shepard. Adams she understood; they had both served with Shepard on board the SR1. Samantha while respected what their former CO had accomplished, was more interested in EDI herself. Finding no credible threat to herself or her teammates, Traynor simply treated EDI as another member, working to retrofit the ship.</p>
<p>That was how her week had gone since the hiking trip to Mt. Rainier. Now they were focusing on the shuttle bay and armory. Lt. Steven Cortez seemed more than capable of overseeing that bit by himself. However, the seasoned pilot always ran things by her or Traynor before acting. Reese had found out later that he had been recommended by Anderson for the job. That didn’t surprise her in the least. She wouldn’t be surprised either if the Admiral intended to keep him on after the retrofit was complete. He always had a plan for people he picked; she knew that from first had experience.</p>
<p>Regardless, she wouldn’t question the Admiral. She did have to wonder if he had planned the accidental reunion of her and a certain L2 biotic though. Admiral or no, Anderson had always possessed a sneaky streak when he wanted to. Either way, the screen in front of her showed the annoyed L2 in question.</p>
<p>
  <em>Technoy_sr1: You know, we’ve been back a week and all the kids do in their down time is tease me about going on that hike with you. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: So? I thought you didn’t want either of us to be embarrassed to be seen with the other or caught chatting.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: The whole week, Reese. The WHOLE damned week. It’s like grade school again. Only I’m the teacher that’s getting teased by his students. Not the other way around. It’s not nearly as fun this way.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Considering it was the weekend and you were off-duty, I am only left to wonder <strong>how </strong>your students learned of your weekend activities. Did you tell them?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I told them I wouldn’t be available for the weekend if they had questions and referred them to Anderson’s office if they needed something. Some of these kids have never been to Earth so—Why are you smiling?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan, you had to have told them something. They aren’t stupid. I glossed over the files. Top of their class, high biotic potential. Sounds a lot like you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well, yeah but I don’t think its their business who I hang out with on my own time. I just said it was an old friend…And I never gave a name.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Pardon me while I laugh, Major. You may be able to have a decent poker face when playing cards but when it come to romance you always blush. Sometimes stutter. You sending those sappy texts to me does not help you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: That hurts, Reese. I thought you liked my sappy texts.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I do. But I bet you get a sappy grin on your face when you send them. I know I do when I receive them. If your kids see that, they can figure it out.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Damn. I guess no more sappy texts then.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Oh, hold on there, Alenko. I happen to actually enjoy those. I just won’t openly admit that to anyone but you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I suppose I could continue to send them if properly motivated.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: What constitutes a proper motivation, Major?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Oh, I don’t know. Maybe more dates?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…….</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I’m thinking.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: The frequency of these hypothetical dates?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I don’t know…Every two weeks… We can take turns picking what we do. Like we have—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: That sounds acceptable except for one thing.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: What’s that? I thought it was a good idea.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: It is but I want to change one thing.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: And that is?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Every week. Not every two.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese, I don’t want to push you into anything…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I believe I was the one to remind you a couple of weeks ago that you could neve push me into anything except a wall and—well, I won’t say what that resulted in.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, I don’t—We aren’t ready for that—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: See? You’re turning red. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese, I mean it. We are just getting to know one another again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah and we can do that better if we see each other more. So you wanna see me or not? I don’t exactly do things like this for just anybody.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay, we can try it, but this just means you’re going to make fun of me more doesn’t it?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You’re cute when you’re blushing.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, I—Damn it. Kids are coming back but I—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You should go then.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Not before I do this….</em>
</p>
<p>Reese started to say something back but her omni-tool beeped. <em>Message from Techboy_sr1.</em></p>
<p>She glanced back at the screen and Kaidan’s waiting face. She could see his students entering the classroom behind him. Several of them making motions toward her behind his back. She opened the message when it became apparent he wasn’t going to leave the VidChat until she did so.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘I don’t know why, but I like bugging you. And, yes, it is fun for me, so might as well just stop asking. It’s basically my way of flirting, so just let it be.”</em>
</p>
<p>Reese felt her cheeks burn as the Major smirked at her. She glared daggers at him as the students behind him hooted and hollered. Quietly, he said, “I’ll talk to you later, Kori.”</p>
<p>The screen blinked out before she could attempt to reach through the screen and throttle him. He’s enjoyed that way too damn much. She’d get him back, somehow, somewhere, sometime. But for now she would look forward to their next date and the teasing his kids were sure to give him.</p>
<p>*****</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Tuesday July 25, 2186 CE, Vancouver-Seattle megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: So what do you think so far? Do I pass inspection?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I’m going to assume you mean have I liked our dates so far.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well, yeah. What else would I be talking about?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t know. If you want to know do I like the beach you took me to, yes I do. If you want to know if I enjoyed the Star Wars prequel marathon at my place, yes and no.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You are sounding like you don’t like Star Wars now. That is dangerous territory Reese.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Ah, so you are more worried that I didn’t enjoy the movies than if I didn’t enjoy having you at my place again. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Star Wars is sacred to me, Reese. You know this. There aren’t too many people I share that with. So if you don’t like the movies we may have to call things off.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Awww, I was going to say I enjoyed having you over more than the movies…The originals are better by the way.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>……</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You liked having me over more?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yes. Is that so surprising?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I—a little. The last time I was over, the next day you seemed conflicted.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I got over it.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Really?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yes. But now I want to know why I haven’t been to your place yet?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: It’s not as nice as your place. And I’ve just been here a month.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Alenko, what aren’t you telling me?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You’re place is just nicer, okay? I have nosey neighbors…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Oh my gosh, Kaidan! You are in the barracks aren’t you?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I have my own room but yes. I’m in the barracks.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: And your nosy neighbors are who? Your students?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay. Fine. Yes. I’m in the same barracks as my kids. I have the officer quarters but still.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Anderson offered you an apartment and you said no.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Quit laughing at me….Okay fine, laugh. But yeah, I did say no. These kids need to know I am here for them not like…BAaT.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I’m sorry I laughed. I just…My apartment isn’t all that anyway. Most of my stuff is in storage.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah. I noticed. I’m in the same boat. Moving from assignment to assignment does that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: This is the longest I’ve stayed still in a long time.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Since February?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah. A couple weeks before I bumped into you. Gran is surprised I’m still planet side. She keeps saying I have my parents’ explorer spirit…She told me when I accepted this assignment that my mom was the first of her family to leave Earth. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I didn’t know that. How is she?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Keeping the rest of the family in line with stern looks and quiet words. She never has to raise her voice to be heard. I didn’t inherit that from her…You know she still asks about you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Your grandmother still askes about me? I only met her the one time on shore leave before…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah. I know. Apparently you made an impression.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: She’s angry with me isn’t she?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Actually no. She was never angry. I was. Gran was disappointed.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Disappointed?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah. She was disappointed in the choice you made and the path you decided to follow.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: She wasn’t—isn’t angry with me for leaving you—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: No. She said you were hard headed and needed to figure things out on your own. If you had to take the long road to figure it out, you would. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Your Gran was right.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: She usually is.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Did you…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Did I want, Kori?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Did you ever tell you parents what happened? The truth?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Not at first…It was months before I could tell them about my choice in assignments. It was nearly a year later before I could come clean about you…I told them we had accepted different assignments and it just wouldn’t work. Mom wasn’t convinced.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: She was worried every time she called me.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know that <strong>now</strong>. She told me on one of the last calls with them…Anyway, it was Dad that called my bluff. He’s friends with Hackett and talked to him…After that, he was furious with me for walking away from you…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Guess we both made impressions with each other’s families.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, I’m sorry—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: We still have to watch the sequels.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: What—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: The Star Wars sequels and aren’t there some spin offs or something? And a TV series or two.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: There’s more than that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Plenty of material for dates.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, we don’t have to.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You’re right. Not every date should be Star Wars. Surely there’s other things to do</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: There is but—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I could always pull a surprise inspect at your place, Alenko. Your kids would love that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Oh no you don’t, Lt. Commander. You aren’t authorized.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Is that a bet you’re willing to make, techboy?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese, don’t you dare—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Oh look, lunch is over. I have to go. I’ll talk to you later, Kaidan.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Reese, don’t even think about—</em>
</p>
<p>The screen went black as she ended the Vid Chat. Maybe she would, maybe to wouldn’t. It would bother him the rest of the day though. Pulling up her omni-tool, she punched in a search for his pet project. Grinning wickedly, the Lt. Commander found out that she was indeed cleared to look over the students’ files as she already had but more than that, Anderson had given her clearance to view <em>everything</em> about the project.</p>
<p>Did Kaidan know that? She was willing to bet he didn’t. The question was, would he look into it now. The other that came to mind was why had Anderson authorized her. It wasn’t because of her level of clearance that she was privy to the files. The Admiral had cleared her by name, her specifically. That only made her think Anderson was indeed up to something. Granted she and Kaidan had worked well on the SR1 but she couldn’t shake the feeling the Admiral had another motive.</p>
<p>Her omni-tool beeped. She didn’t have to look at the alert to know that it was from Kaidan.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Sometimes I wonder how you put up with me. Then I remember, oh I put up with you. So we’re even.’</em>
</p>
<p>Reese laughed so loud she thought the rest of the retrofit team might hear her outside her little room. No one did though, well EDI did, but the AI had learned to not interrupt the Vid Chats with Kaidan unless it was important. When that occurred she did nothing to give herself away as anything other than a VI. Kaidan didn’t know about her; maybe in time he would.</p>
<p>More importantly, Reese noticed they were starting to be able to talk about their past history a little more. Not a lot, but a little. That was better than before. And apparently they were still plenty able to annoy and tease each other. Her thoughts dwelled on that for a moment and then she typed back a response. There would be consequences, but she was willing to chance it.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘Honestly, I never knew I’d end up liking you this much.’</em>
</p>
<p>His reply was almost instantaneous.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘I kinda…sorta…maybe…well actually I do…like you way more than I originally planned too.’</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Wednesday, August 9, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Reese managed to avoid the conversion since Monday. Usually by mid-week they already knew what they wanted to do for their date. This week was different. She had reasons, good ones but she still didn’t want Kaidan to think she was blowing him off. She really didn’t want to not go on a date with him, but he insisted on doing things on the weekends. More free time he had reasoned. He was right but it was also the only time she could do other things as well.</p>
<p>She sighed realizing that he was not one to leave things to the last minute. He would want an answer so they could plan. That’s probably why her laptop was beeping incessantly with an incoming message alert while she prepared her dinner. There was no use in avoiding it any longer. She hit the accept button.</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Hey! we haven’t decided what to do this weekend</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: well there’s a reason</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: that being?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I’ve put off going to see Gran for a while. I did a quick visit right after I got back to Earth but…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you want to go see her this weekend. That’s fine Kori. I understand</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: it’s her birthday or rather it was earlier this week. And i—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you don’t have to explain anything to me. She’s family and that’s important I get that</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: but we’ve been doing something every week…together</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori it’s fine. Missing one week won’t hurt us</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>……</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: but I want to…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: want to what?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I want you to…come with me</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: really?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: yes</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: why? I left you---</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: and now you’re back…aren’t you</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I want to be</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: then come with me. It’s just the weekend</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori…your grandmother can be scary</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: you, major Alenko, are scared of my grandma?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: she’s very intimidating when she wants to be. She doesn’t even have to say anything. She just has a look</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: the look. It’s the one she gives everyone, especially me. Apparently, I’m headstrong and impulsive</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you? Headstrong and impulsive? Never. Surely the Lt. who dismantled part of the Normandy's computer in the middle of the night without permission wasn’t you. The one who didn’t use her barrier on a mission and got shot because she said the door being hacked was more important wasn’t you. The one who discovered the back of a mako could be used for more than what the Alliance intended.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: hold up right there, Alenko. You are the one who started that</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you didn’t have to accept conditions Shepard gave you</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: if I hadn’t I’d have been thrown off the Normandy</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: so you let me teach you about controlling your biotics and you’re better for it, aren’t you?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: a lesson in patience in the mako while you repair a control panel wasn’t my idea of a lesson. In fact you were the one who was impatient</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: and I told you I had learned the hard way when to be patient and when to be impulsive</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: you were impulsive</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I didn’t hear you complain about what we did</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: should I have?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I didn’t think so…you’re the only one I broke the rules for</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan…you should know I saw someone after we—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: you know?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: yeah. Let’s just leave it at that for now</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…..</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you really want me to go?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: yes techboy. I really want you to go</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: then I guess I’m going to Georgia this weekend</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: thank you Kaidan</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: anything for you</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*******</p>
<p><strong><em>Saturday August 12, 2186</em></strong>, <strong><em>Blue Ridge,</em></strong> <strong><em>Georgia, Earth</em></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reese’s grandmother was ecstatic to see her granddaughter in person, not via a VidChat or a text or for just a couple hours. They spent the better part of the afternoon talking while doing normal household chores. Her grandmother openly welcomed Kaidan into her home as if nothing had ever happened, as if it hadn’t been nearly three years since he had last been there. She made him feel at home, that his presence was expected, that he was worth enough to be with her granddaughter.</p>
<p>The Lt. Commander watched as Kaidan did everything his grandmother asked him to do plus things he offered to do. Seeing him act in such a domestic fashion brought a smile to her face. They never really had any moments like that before. Their time aboard the SR1 was obviously not something that afforded them many opportunities for such things. The few weeks of shore leave after the Battle of the Citadel had not been focused on that either. It was a time to travel, relax, be anything but soldiers. Experiencing domestic bliss not being one of them.</p>
<p>The time with her family <em>plus</em> Kaidan was something she hadn’t known she needed. For so long she focused on her duty, her assignments, the next order she would be given. Working on the SR2 retrofit afforded her a longer assignment on a planet she considered home. She had been born on a terraforming colony; much of her childhood and early teenage years spent there until an accident rendered the world uninhabitable. The accident taking her parents’ lives, forcing her to move to Earth, to live with her mother’s family.</p>
<p>Being home again, being in the same place for a long period of time, knowing what her assignment would be for the next few months, made her realize she was looking for stability again. The last time she had experienced anything like that since leaving her Gran’s house had been on the SR1. Meeting Kaidan again only served to subtly reinforce that thought. It was one she oh so slowly realized, almost as if she were afraid to fully realize it, fearing it would disappear. Fearing that the stability would vanish. It was similar to the doubts she still harbored about Kaidan’s sincerity about them, their relationship, their second chance.</p>
<p>It wasn’t fair. He was trying and he wasn’t responsible for her struggle with maintaining stability. Her choices led to that. Her focus on duty only for most of her adult life saw to that. Anderson’s request to have her assigned to the original Normandy, Shepard’s ultimatum concerning her continued assignment to the SR1, Kaidan’s insistence that she learn to use her biotics correctly instead of fearing them. Those instances showed her that people could care what happened to her, that she could chose to have a home. Her doubts didn’t have to rule her. Apparently that was a lesson she would have to learn <em>again</em>.</p>
<p>Reese was rattled from her thoughts as Kaidan turned to look at her. A raised eyebrow let her know he realized he had figured out where her knack for planning things, her belief she was right most of the time had come from. His voice held amusement as he commented, “This is like something you’d do. Subtle manipulation. She did this on purpose you know.”</p>
<p>“She did it the last time I was here too. Remember?” Kaidan added as he gestured around the bedroom her grandmother had given them to stay in. It had been once upon a time Reese’s bedroom. That fact was clearly not lost on the Major.</p>
<p>Reese made a face turning away from him, focusing on the duffle bag on the full-sized bed. It was the same bed that saw her through her teenage years. The room held the same furniture as well just decorated in adult themes rather than that of a teenager.  “Well yeah but this is different.”</p>
<p>“Is it?” Alenko smirked as he walked to stand beside her, his head tilted. “We’ve slept together before.”</p>
<p>“On my couch!” the Lt. Commander exclaimed as she throw up her hands, the bag forgotten. She knew was being loud enough for her grandmother to hear, maybe even her cousins. She didn’t care. Part of her hadn’t believed he would have said yes to coming back to Georgia. Now here he stood in her old bedroom, smirking about their relationship. It was maddening.</p>
<p>The smirk disappeared as he crossed his arms, his stance relaxed. He didn’t want a fight, that much was clear. He didn’t want to upset her either. The Major’s tone was gentle the next time he spoke. “That’s our <em>recent</em> history Kori. I meant <em>before</em>…”</p>
<p>“I know,” she conceded, averting her eyes back to their duffle bags. She couldn’t look at him. The thought of being with Kaidan again like that was too much yet at the same time not enough. All the emotions she tried to keep in check welled up inside her unbidden. “I just…I’m not ready for that yet.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t say you were or that<em> we</em> were,” Kaidan’s voice reassured her, a hand settling lightly on her shoulder. His voice was calm and reassuring as he clarified, attempting to be very clear in what he meant. Typical Kaidan, always needing to explain to avoid complications.  Yet as she saw it she had been nothing other than a complication to him since they’d first met. “I just mean that we are both adults and can share a bed without anything happening.”</p>
<p>Finally Reese forced herself to look up at him, gesturing vaguely at the bed she had once used every night before she left for the Alliance Academy. She had to make him understand. She had to say what she was bothering her, or it would only grow worse. “But this means that it<em> could</em> happen—"</p>
<p>“Kori, nothing is going to happen unless we want it to,” Kaidan insisted as he shook his head, dropping his hand to his side. She suddenly missed the lack of contact as his expression become one of perplexity. “You <em>know</em> I won’t push you into anything <em>plus</em> you keep reminding me that I can’t push you into anything except a wall. This is a mattress so…”</p>
<p>Reese shrugged helplessly as he trailed off, doubts beginning to seep back in, threatening to drown her. His feeble attempt at humor did nothing this time. Usually it was enough to get a halfhearted grin or at least a groan. This time her uncertainty won out over the confidence she had felt earlier, the hope that she carried for their second chance. “Kaidan, I don’t mean that exactly… I just…things have happened that I never thought would and you are <em>here</em>…”</p>
<p>“Kori, what do you want?” Alenko pointed at her, his tone one of exasperation. The man had more patience than anyone she’d ever known except her Grandmother and now that was at an end because of her. “You asked me to come. I’m here. You asked if I was back. I said I was. You said we could get to know one another again. I agreed. You agreed to start dating. I want that too. What more do I have to do to keep you from doubting everything?”</p>
<p>Reese tried to respond to any of his comments, to his question. Nothing came out. She knew she had to look pathetic to him with her inability to answer. No, that wasn’t true. Kaidan would never think her pathetic. He would drive himself crazy instead in an attempt to figure it out for her. When words still refused to come she reached a hand towards him. He caught it effortlessly in his.</p>
<p>He tried again, his expression one of desperation. “I’m trying. I really am and I know what I did to you. But sweetheart, if there’s something I’ve missed, something you need from me, you’ve got to tell me. <em>Please.”</em></p>
<p>Her grey eyes fell to their hands. Kaidan’s hold on hers was near a death grip; he didn’t want to lose what they had. She had to say something, the right thing. Reese glanced from their intertwined hands to his pleading whiskey colored eyes. “I…I just…don’t want you to leave again…if we go further…”</p>
<p>Kaidan moved his other hand to stroke her cheek. “I won’t leave you again. I know those are just words, but I swear it. I’ll do whatever I have to do to prove it to you.”</p>
<p>Reese’s voice was little more than a whisper. “I…Gran said that feelings that come back are feelings that never left.”</p>
<p>“When did she say that?”</p>
<p>“When she asked me to help with dinner.”</p>
<p>“That's like what she did to me…” Kaidan offered with a half grin. “When she asked me to help clear away the dishes…she said If you really need her, fate won’t let you lose her. Fate will bring her back. It may not be soon, but it will happen.”</p>
<p>The two Alliance soldiers stood gazing at each other silently for several long moments. To the Lt. Commander, the thought of Kaidan staying her old room with her didn’t feel as alien to her any longer. He was right. They had done all of this before, just in a different way. After nearly three years, everything would be different. Why not this? Did fate had a plan as Gran believed?</p>
<p>“Kaidan, I don’t…I just want to understand what we—” Reese finally confessed, breaking the silence.</p>
<p>“We had the right love at the wrong time.” Kaidan glanced at the large window that took up almost the entirety of one of the wall. It had been one of her favorite features of her room. It let in a wonderful view of the stars at night and had only served as a reminder of her promise to her parents: to go back to the stars and make a difference just as they had.</p>
<p>“Wrong time?” she echoed uncertainly. The wistful tone of his voice had caught her attention but also the use of the word love. Did he still love her? Did she still love him?</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he said, his eyes meeting hers again. “I wasn’t ready for it, to give you what you needed. And…feel free to slug me if I’m wrong, I’m not sure you were really ready to accept what I wanted to give…”</p>
<p>She tilted her head, her tone hopeful. “What-what about this time?”</p>
<p>“I want to believe that we are ready this time or really damn close to it,” the Canadian responded with a hint of a grin.</p>
<p>“I want that too.”</p>
<p>“Then give us a chance,” Kaidan pleaded, pulling her to him. Cupping both her cheeks he went on, “Give me a chance. A real one. I know I might not deserve one, but I want one. It’s selfish but…I know you’ll have doubts, and I know why. But I want to make up for that. I want you to trust me again. Could you?”</p>
<p>Reese was silent for only a second. She tilted her head up and kissed him without any hesitation. “Yes.”</p>
<p>******</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Sunday, August 13, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Reese and Alenko arrived back in Seattle late Sunday evening. After seeing her back to her apartment, Kaidan left but not without a kiss. It wasn’t just a peck on the cheek either as had been his pattern previously. After the candid conversation the night before, it was apparent the Major had every intention of fully resuming that part of their relationship from three years ago. He was never one to openly show his emotions, especially to people he didn’t know well. But once he let you in, you were in all the way. And Kaidan Alenko never did anything half-assed.</p>
<p>As the Lt. Commander laid in bed, she looked at the man on her screen who was sitting in his own bed. He wore a grey Alliance tee shirt as he propped himself up on some pillows against the headboard. He was looking at her curiously. They had already discussed her choice to lay down instead of sitting up. Her response was that she was tired, no one else was around, and she didn’t care. Kaidan chuckled and then moved onto their current topic of conversation.</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Did your Gran ask you to bring me? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: No. But I think she knew I would. She knew if I got up the nerve to ask you, you’d come. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You don’t regret me going do you? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: No. I just…just want you to know that I don’t doubt you all the time. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Oh so just some of the time then? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Kaidan Alenko you know what I mean! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah Kori. I know but teasing you is so much fun. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: As you’ve mentioned before several times. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Do you want me to stop? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: No. Not really. I…like it. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I knew you did. Granted I think you are the only one who has ever truly appreciated my sense of humor. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Your sense of humor or your notion of flirting? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Both? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I thought so. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You like my flirting. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Your attempts at it anyway. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Do I need more practice? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: We’ve been talking to one another or dating since the end of February. You’d think you would have gotten a little better in the last five months. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Maybe I want to get it right this time or maybe you like it just the way it is. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You think it’s both don’t you? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Affirmative Lt. Commander. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: See? There you go being a dork again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: But I’m your dork. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You are? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah I thought you might have picked up on that by now. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I guess I should. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You did kiss me at your grandmother's house in your old room. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I know. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: And you spooned up to me during the night. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I know. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: And you let me kiss you good morning. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Jori13: I know, Alenko. I was there. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Just reminding you cause I did just kiss you a couple of hours ago too.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>….</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Does this mean we’ve reached the part where it’s okay to kiss again? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I think so. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>….</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I might need practice though. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You need practice for everything. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I don’t think you’ll be complaining about this kind of practicing. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I never complained about the way you kissed. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I was rather good wasn’t I? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Now you’re just being a smug ass. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_ sr1: But I’m your smug ass.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Thursday, August 31, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Reese stared at her laptop screen accusingly. The evening had gone well, everything considered.<em> Except</em> for how they had gotten there. <em>That</em> was what really irked her, and the cause was staring back with a sheepish grin from his side of the VidChat. It didn’t help that even ashamed, Kaidan Alenko could still look sexy and innocent at the same time. That had definitely <em>not </em>changed in their time apart.</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I cannot believe you didn’t tell me your mom wanted me over for dinner.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Hey, you admitted you thought I would say no when you first asked me to go see your grandma.</em>
</p>
<p><em>Kori13: Yeah, but I</em> did<em> ask. You didn’t. Your mother called and asked me, techboy.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know. Believe me I know. My dad chewed me out good for that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Good. That was just…wrong.</em>
</p>
<p><em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, I’m sorry. I know they wanted to see you—wanted to see </em>us<em> together again but—</em></p>
<p><em>Kori13: But what Alenko? You asked me to give you a chance. A </em>REAL<em> one. You asked me to trust you and then you pull this crap!</em></p>
<p>
  <em>….</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, I’m sorry. I really am. I just—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Just what? I said I could trust you and you—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I didn’t want you to feel like my parents were pressuring you. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Pressuring me?</em>
</p>
<p><em>Techboy_sr1: Yeah. Dad is pretty adamant that I make things right this time and I shouldn’t give up until—until he’s sure he gets grandkids…</em>His<em> words, not mine.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I was unaware that I was dating your father.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Damn, Kori. Don’t say that. Now it’s just weird.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: And it’s not weird to have you say your dad gets to decide how our relationship should go or to have your mom call me about dinner because you won’t?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Okay. Fine. I get it. But that’s why…Dad has strong opinions and isn’t as retrained in them or tactful as Mom…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I know that. What I don’t know is why you think they could pressure me into doing something I’m already doing?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori?</em>
</p>
<p><em>Kori13: Alenko, we are already dating. Officially or unofficially. Technically or not. I know you know my issues with this, and I am really trying, especially after you went to my Gran’s. But what is </em>your<em> deal? You ask for permission and then act like things are too much. I enjoyed going to your parents’ tonight. I know how your parents can be and they aren’t going to pressure me into doing anything I don’t want to do. So what is wrong?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>……</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I left you. I walked out on you and didn’t consider how it would affect you other than to think you would be better off without me. Maybe you were but I did it wrong. I made that decision for the both of us; you didn’t get a choice. I didn’t let you. I want to make sure you have a choice this time and no one makes it for you, including people who might mean well.</em>
</p>
<p><em>Kori13: But </em>you<em> tried to make a choice for me by not inviting me to dinner when your parents asked you too.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know…I just…I’m sorry.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Don’t be sorry. Just don’t do it again.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Don’t do it again? It’s that simple?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You do remember who you are talking to right? I seem to have a hobby of making simple things complicated.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah. We both do. But it would be boring otherwise.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You’re anything but boring Kori.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Is that a compliment or a complaint?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Depends on the situation?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You’re only brave enough to say that because we are VidChatting.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Probably.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I’ll get you for that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I know.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*******</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Saturday, September 2, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Reese laid on her couch once again with Kaidan or rather she had her head in his lap as he sat in the corner of the couch. They had finally made it through all the Star Wars movies, spinoffs, and T.V. series. She had never been exposed to anything Star Wars growing up. As a colony kid most of her time had been spent helping her parents keep the colony running. They had been two of the scientists involved in a new way to terraform planets. It had all gone well until an eezo incident and then nothing had been the same. But that was the past. Kaidan was in her present…</p>
<p>She mused as she looked up at him, the credits rolling on the large vidscreen, “The sequels are better than the prequels, but the originals are better than them all. The spinoffs are hit and miss and so are the series…”</p>
<p>Kaidan chuckled. “They were made a long time ago. But I like them. My mom is the sci-fi buff, but you know that. Anyway, she and I would sit and watch anything Star Wars when things weren’t…good.</p>
<p>Reese caught the way he trailed off towards the end. She put a hand over his that rested on her stomach. “Are you meaning when your biotics first showed up?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Alenko replied quietly. She knew he didn’t necessarily like talking about that part of his life, but he had never shied away from it when she asked him. “My parents always knew there was a good chance I’d be…affected by the eezo exposure one way or another. Dad doesn’t like to talk about it, but he thought I might not make it to my teens and if I did I’d be…unlucky.”</p>
<p>“But you weren’t,” she noted as she turned onto her side, glancing up at him with a smile. Reaching up, she feathered the fingers of her left hand through his hair. “You have migraines and I know those can be awful, but you are old enough now to have gray hair.”</p>
<p>“Oh, now you bring up the gray! Six months later you bring it up,” the Major retorted as he removed her hand from his hair but did not let go. His whiskey brown eyes reflecting annoyance with a hint of amusement. “I know you noticed when we met up again at HQ but really?”</p>
<p>The Lt. Commander smiled up at him innocently. She really was proud of him but that didn’t mean he was immune from teasing. “It makes you look distinguished. A distinguished L2 biotic Major with his own covert ops company.”</p>
<p>“Dress it up anyway you want, Reese,” he replied moving to hold both her hands in his as he leaned down with a stern expression. “No man wants to be called distinguished because of grey hair.”</p>
<p>“What about sexy?” she purred, pulling herself up as Kaidan watched her movements like a hawk, not letting go. Once in a sitting position that happened to be his lap, the L3 continued in a soft suggestive tone, “Does that stroke your ego just right? Does it reinforce the male image you are trying to project? I know that you are the topic of scuttlebutt, how handsome and kind and humble and well-spoken and nice and strong and sexy you are.”</p>
<p>“I, uh, I don’t know what to say,” the Canadian Officer stuttered, clearly not expecting either her words, tone, or her new position in his lap. “I never really paid attention to that—"</p>
<p>Reese snickered in disbelief as he brought their hands to his chest. “Oh, yeah, sure. You never knew people ogled you on the SR1. <em>Right.”</em></p>
<p>“Kori, that’s not…” Kaidan began in frustration as she continued to grin mischievously at him. Finally he sighed in frustration. “Why are you—Why can’t you just compliment me?”</p>
<p>She arched an eyebrow. “I thought I already did, grey hair and all, Major.”</p>
<p>“Kori, you are frustrating,” he said in exasperation as he let go of her hands.</p>
<p>She inwardly frowned at the loss of contact. She was just starting to realize exactly how much she enjoyed being in a domestic setting with him. Sharing quarters even just a few nights a week was growing on her. They had never been able to do that on the SR1. Even shore leave had ended…</p>
<p>Suddenly the urge to test their new arrangement needled her. She wanted to know how he would react to teasing. Granted it probably wasn’t the best way to test your sort of ex-boyfriend who was now your boyfriend, but she had never been good with relationships to start with. Trying to sound nonchalant she shrugged as she made to get up from his lap. “You can always leave—"</p>
<p>“No,” he said without hesitation as his hands clamped around her waist, keeping her in place. “I promised I wouldn’t.”</p>
<p>Grey eyes met brown as he said in a lower tone. “I don’t want to.”</p>
<p>“Kaidan, I didn’t mean it that way,” Reese clarified, suddenly feeling guilty for having tried. She placed a hand on his chest over his heart. “I just meant you didn’t have to spend the night. You could—"</p>
<p>“I know,” he interrupted as he kissed her quickly. He squeezed her waist as he added, “I just—I want to stay, even if you are annoying me.”</p>
<p>Reese felt a smile come to her face as her guilt bled away to contentment. “You like me to annoy you.”</p>
<p>“I suppose I do…” Alenko agreed with a half-grin. He paused as his eyes drifted to the still rolling credits. “Maybe you could annoy some of my kids.”</p>
<p>“Why? Are they teasing you because you have a love life?”</p>
<p>“No. Well yes but not that much…” he answered with a smirk. He moved a hand to absentmindedly play with her hair. “It’s just some of them think working alone instead of in a group is better. Sometimes, yeah. They need to work solo. But they can pool their biotics, work together to reinforce each other, be stronger. It’s not what they taught at BAaT and not exactly what the Alliance training includes but I know it can work.”</p>
<p>Reese frowned as he continued to run his fingers through her hair. “Kaidan, what exactly are you talking about? There’s standard team work and then there’s biotics using their powers together…Oh crap. <em>No</em>.”</p>
<p>No. He couldn’t mean that. He had remarked before how he had been inspired by the training the two of them had done on the <em>Normandy</em>. He couldn’t…</p>
<p>The Major seemed to know what she was thinking, holding his hands up.  “Kori, just hear me out. Please? I’ve been talking to Kahlee Sanders on Grissom. She says the students there are starting be able to use their biotics together, like combining to make a big shield bubble. The Asari can do it. The kids on Grissom are second gen biotics. Their parent or parents were biotic. My kids are like us—you and me. First gen singular exposure or second exposure. They don’t think it’s possible.”</p>
<p>She felt the trepidation of his suggestion well up inside her. She had never had the kind of biotic bond he was talking about with anyone except with him. It was intensely personal to be able to do some of the things they had done back on the SR1. “Kaidan, you are asking me to do something we did totally by accident on the SR1. It’s been three years. We don’t even know if it will still work…”</p>
<p>“I know it can…” he responded with object certainty. He looked her dead in the eye, willing her to understand what he was trying to do.  “I just need someone I trust to help show them that. If they can trust each other and their biotics enough then using their powers in the field will be more beneficial. I need them to trust each other like you once trusted me.”</p>
<p>Reese was quiet for a moment as she chewed her bottom lip<em>. Like you use to trust me.</em> The words echoed in her mind. He had asked if she could trust him again and she’d said yes. Was this his way if seeing if that were true, if she had been sincere in her answer? Kaidan had always left himself a way out back then, or at least he claimed to? Was this one now? Either way he was asking for her help.</p>
<p>“You’re asking me to sit in on a class and then randomly engage in a biotic exercise with you,” she finally commented in a deadpan voice, settling for a non-committal reply for the moment. She wanted to see if this was a spur of the moment idea or one he’d given actual thought to.</p>
<p>“Not randomly. Monday 0900,” the Major corrected with a smirk. “I know you have access and you’ve been keeping up with my kids’ progress. You were my first student if you would call it that. I’ve used what I learned with you to shape how to teach these kids. I already knew what not to do because of BAaT. I learned what to do <em>because</em> of you. I’d like you to at least see what I’ve done.”</p>
<p>In a softer tone, he glanced at her, his voice full of sincerity, “…It would mean a lot to me, Kori.”</p>
<p>“Okay, Kaidan. I’ll do it…” she acquiesced, never having been able to resist his requests when he used that tone with that look. That didn’t mean she couldn’t still tease him though as she ran a had through his hair. “But only because you are distinguishably sexy.”</p>
<p>Kaidan snorted. “At least the grey is good for something.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*****</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Sunday, September 3, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>Kaidan was either going to kill her or give her a stern lecture and then send her on her way. Six months they had been talking. Only a couple had they been dating. June 27 was the date that stuck with her the most. Their coffee date. The date that had started them on the path they were on now. The first night Kaidan ended up on her couch with her. In all that time, she still didn’t know what the inside of his own quarters looked like. That was about to change.</p>
<p>Making her way to the barracks reserved for the 1<sup>st</sup> Special Operations Biotics Company, Reese flashed on the kiss he had given her just a couple hours before. It was well after dinner and he was most likely getting ready for bed. But that kiss had been something else, something that harkened back to the days on the SR1 when everything had been new and there was the risk of getting caught. Not simply a goodnight kiss but containing a hint of wanting more. He wouldn’t push her, just like he always said but the desire for it was obviously there.</p>
<p>That kiss and his promise to not make decisions for her spurred her on to pay him an unexpected visit. Of course a desire to get him back for his remark about her not being boring and his ambivalence about its true meaning factored into her choice to visit as well. He’d asked her to help with his class in the morning anyway…</p>
<p>Reese entered the barracks through the front door like any normal soldier using the clearance Anderson had granted her. She greeted the guard on duty and asked for directions the Major’s quarters. The man gave her a curious look but provided the information. Seeing the level of clearance and who she reported to, the guard made no issue except to say the Major normally didn’t leave the barracks after 2000 and should be in his quarters. Thanking the man she walked nonchalantly down the hall passed the desk.</p>
<p>Once out of sight of the guard she maneuvered her way to a blind spot in the hallway out of the camera’s view. Having studied the layout of the building before coming, Reese activated her omni-tool and quickly activated her tactical cloak. Being in R &amp; D had its advantages. This cloak was undetectable by most traditional detection algorithms and so far had done well in field tests. Of course, having a master thief field test it was a huge advantage. Thanks to Tali, Reese had been able to strike a deal with one Kasumi Goto with the intent for her to test the mods while the thief got to keep her prototypes. Anderson knew a little about the arrangement but not the specifics. He wanted to be able to use plausible deniability and Reese couldn’t blame him. At least, Kasumi had a code of sorts and didn’t work against the Alliance.</p>
<p>As she shimmered out of view, she took a breath. Kaidan’s rooms were just down the hall, located in the exact middle of barracks, between the two wings. So far no one had been in the halls, probably because Alenko enforced a curfew knowing him. Apparently he even observed it, not that he had ever been one to go out and party late into the night. At least she had never known him to, but things change.</p>
<p>Without any one around, Reese reached the Major’s door and pressed the door chime. A shuffle of something on the other side of the door and a muffled <em>just a minute </em>sounded from the other side. Moving away from the door, she leaned against the opposite wall. After a couple of seconds the door slid open to reveal Kaidan dressed in sweatpants and a tee shirt with wet hair. Had he just gotten out of the shower?</p>
<p>His head leaned out the door, glancing up and down the hallway. Frowning when he saw no one, he grumbled and went back into his quarters. As the door slid shut, Reese smiled to herself. She waited a few minutes; the voice of young people could be heard down the far end of the hall, but no one ever came into sight.</p>
<p>As the voices faded, she chimed the door again. Moving away once more she waited patiently for him to answer the summons. Once again, she heard movement from inside and then the door slid open. Alenko this time upon seeing no one at his door stepped out into the hallway. Despite his annoyed expression, she grinned. He had left her just enough room to squeeze between him and the wall. Without being detected she entered his quarters as Kaidan made a sound of annoyance. “This better not be a prank…I’m pretty sure sanitation could use some help if it is…”</p>
<p>As he uttered the warning to no one in particular, Reese did a quick look around his space. It appeared to be an open floor plan. The living and kitchen area blending together with a nook for an office area. A couple of narrow doors seemed to lead to storage areas or closets while a normal sized door stood open, revealing a bedroom. She assumed the bathroom could be accessed from there. Her apartment was definitely bigger, but both were Spartan in décor and personal effects. Kaidan hadn’t been kidding when he said they both kept their stuff in storage.</p>
<p>It looked like he had been working on something at the desk when she had interrupted. She turned back towards the door when she heard the Major shut the door with a growl. He ran his hand through his short dark hair, his eyed squeezed shut. He took several deep breaths as if to calm himself. She remained motionless even though she knew he couldn’t see her. His hands balled up into fists as he shoved them against his temples. The soft <em>damn it</em> that escaped his lips surprised her.</p>
<p>Frowning, she watched as he called for the lights to be dimmed, his fingers fumbling to turn off his laptop perched on the corner of the desk. His movements were slow, deliberate as if he and to concentrate on the smallest thing in order to accomplish it. Slowly he made his way across the living area to the door of the bedroom. Before he could enter the room, he groaned and leaned heavily against the doorframe, his forehead resting against the wall.</p>
<p>A migraine. His still got them. Apparently they were still as bad as they had been on the SR1. She watched as he his breaths became labored, a hand shooting to the base of his skull. He uttered <em>damn it</em> once more, wincing in pain.</p>
<p>Without a second thought, Reese walked over to him, flaring her biotics just a bit as she placed a hand on his head. Kaidan flinched at the unexpected contact, whipping around, looking for who had touched him. Through squinted eyes, he asked, “Reese?”</p>
<p>She deactivated her tactical cloak as she gave him an apologetic grin. “Yeah. I didn’t mean to do that. I forgot I had it on for a moment.”</p>
<p>He closed his eyes as he leaned back against the wall, pain evident in his expression. “How…the hell…do you forget…something like that?”</p>
<p>“Your migraine. I didn’t know you still had them like this…” she replied softly as she flared her biotics again, both hands glowing with purplish auras.</p>
<p>“Why…why are you here…I told you not to come.”</p>
<p>“I was going to surprise you ‘cause you made fun of me being boring the other day but I didn’t think I’d cause you a migraine by pranking you with the door…” Reese slowly placed her hands along his temples, running her fingers from there to the base of his skull. She slowly repeated the motions over and over again. “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Alenko was quiet for several long moments. His breathing slowing, becoming more normal but his eyes remained shut. Finally he said, “You didn’t cause it. It’s just…Anderson wants a field test with some of the more advanced kids and I’m not convinced they are ready…I don’t want to push them…”</p>
<p>“Hey, you are a great teacher. I would know that, remember?” Reese protested as she began running her fingers through his hair. She heard him sigh as she continued, “You have done better than any other instructor the Alliance or any human organization has ever done. These kids are better for having you be their teacher. You’ve been at this for almost a year with them. Trust them.”</p>
<p>“Why are you always right?” he asked with a hint of humor, his eyes barely open.</p>
<p>“Just one of life’s mysteries I guess,” she teased, glad he seemed to be feeling a little better. “But really I only meant to—”</p>
<p>She was cut off when Kaidan’s hands dropped to rest at her hips while he leaned forward, his forehead coming to rest against her shoulder. She stopped her ministrations as he breathed against her neck, “I know you were just trying to get back at me. I figured you would at some point. I just…”</p>
<p>“I can go. I just thought that it might be nice to see you at your place but—”</p>
<p>“Don’t go,” he whispered, pleadingly as he wrapped his arms around her waist. His embrace was strong despite the migraine. “I want you to stay.”</p>
<p>“Really?”</p>
<p>“Really,” he assured her as he kept his arms around her while he slowly maneuvered them into the bedroom. Kaidan slid the door shut as he added sincerely, “Maybe this isn’t fair to say, but I promise you there hasn’t been a day that I stopped thinking of you, that I stopped wanting you. And you haven’t gotten out of my head at all since I first met you…I want more than that…I want to be with you, pranks and teasing and impulsiveness included. I want to try, really try this time. Just like you said.”</p>
<p>“Kaid, I—”</p>
<p>“Just think about it. You don’t have to answer now, especially since I still have this damned migraine,” he replied giving her a half-grin.</p>
<p>She nodded and then kissed him. Maybe it would help with his migraine, maybe it wouldn’t. Either way she had gotten much more out of her impromptu visit than she had planned and for once that was okay with her.</p>
<p>******</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Monday, September 4, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>“Hi,” a sleepy voice murmured close to her ear. Reese stirred at the sound, feeling a hand squeeze her hip slightly. Someone was nuzzling the back of neck, sighing contentedly. <em>Kaidan.</em></p>
<p>Rolling over a bit she was greeted with the sight of the Major wearing a lazy grin as a hand moved to brush her hair out of her face. His whiskey colored eyes showed nothing but adoration and contentment. She returned his grin as he said quietly, “You stayed.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” she whispered, giving him the same response he had the first night they’d spent at her apartment.</p>
<p>Kaidan’s grin widened into a full-blown smile. “Thank you.”</p>
<p>“You’re welcome.”</p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>Kaidan stood in a large opened area that could pass for a lecture hall or a classroom or a gym. The structure was next door to the barracks for the 1<sup>st  </sup>Special Operations Biotics Company and included a mess hall and a few other specialized training rooms outfitted especially for biotics. It was impressive, nothing like how the Major had described Jump Zero to her. It was definitely an improvement over what she had access to during her Alliance training. Apparently, Anderson had made sure the L2 had access to anything and everything he wanted when it came to instructing his kids.</p>
<p>About twenty students lounged around in groups or by themselves, their attention on Alenko. They wore uniforms and were quiet but the way they held themselves—relaxed across furniture or leaning against a wall—gave Reese the distinct impression that Kaidan was a very relaxed instructor or he was at the moment. She knew firsthand how intense and focused he could be when prompted. The make-out session from that morning was a fresh reminder of that. And as soon as his alarm had gone off, he switched into soldier mode, getting ready for the morning’s duties while paying her attention as he could. Would living with him be like all the time?</p>
<p>The thought caught her off guard as Kaidan gave the kids a rundown of what the week was going to entail. By week’s end they would be giving a demonstration to Admiral Anderson of what they had accomplished. Kaidan was adamant that they practice until then. Reese remained quiet as some of the kids groaned, apparently they weren’t convinced. Suddenly glad that Traynor had agreed to oversee everything on the retrofit today, Reese wondered if Kaidan might need more than one day of her help. Had she really been that cocky about her use of biotics, or rather her lack of use, three years ago?</p>
<p>Reese knew the answer and she had been very wrong about her biotics back then. Now she watched from the back of the group, invisible to them through the use of her tactical cloak as Kaidan tried one more time to make his point. Sometimes advanced students could be a pain in the ass. She would know; she’d been in their shoes before just not with biotics. Tech and a few other skills had been her area. Trying her hardest not to snort at the students’ lack of enthusiasm, she remained quiet, waiting for Kaidan’s signal.</p>
<p>“All right, I get it. You guys are the top of your class. You tested the highest out of all the other biotics in your class. You have the newer implants. You have trained for nearly a year with me plus the standard biotics training the Alliance mandates. You’re restless and want a chance to prove yourselves. You want to see actual combat not these exercises the Admiral wants,” Alenko stated as he stood before them, gesturing with his hands. “I’ve been there. I know what it’s like to have all this training and knowledge and raw ability and wanting to have a real challenge to test what you can really do.”</p>
<p>“Then why can’t we?” a dark-haired young man called from off to the side, his hair spiked in some sort of style that was somehow still military regulation.</p>
<p>The Major raised an eyebrow. “You mean besides the fact Anderson won’t authorize any such action without a field test? Let me see…”</p>
<p>He paused for dramatic flair as he began counting on his fingers. “Real combat is nothing like these exercises. Some of you are overly cocky about your abilities and self-importance. Some of you activity refuse to work as a group. The enemy will not give a crap if you are better with warps than barriers. You are a target no matter what. You piss off the team member that is good with barriers and you might have just lost your support. That barrier could save your ass while you throw warps at your targets. You are to work as a team, making up for other member’s deficiencies. There is no one here who is a biotic god or goddess. We all have weaknesses and strengths. Working as a group can compensate for that and make sure everyone makes it back alive.”</p>
<p>“But we’re L4’s, sir. You’re an L2,” the dark-haired man pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean our biotics are stronger? More stable? Aren’t you just projecting your own experiences on us?”</p>
<p>Kaidan crossed his arms, no hint of taking offense. Apparently this kid was the major source of problems for him. “Oh, so you think, Hawkins, that I’m letting BAaT color my instruction of you guys. Well, you’re right but not in the way you think. I’m making sure this doesn’t turn into the FUBAR mess BAaT was. You guys deserve better. But you think I’m underestimating you. You are wrong. I know exactly what you all are capable of especially if you work together.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Hawkins,” a female voice called from the other side of the group. It was a red headed woman, her hair framing her face. “We could do better if everyone worked like a unit and not like a showoff.”</p>
<p>“But I’m better,” Hawkins protested. “I tested out as the strongest here.”</p>
<p>“But not the <em>smartest</em>,” she shot back.</p>
<p>“Okay, Corwin. Thank you for making my point,” Alenko stated, holding up his hands to calm everyone down. “You think because you are biotically powerful you can work alone? That you can do anything that is presented to you without help from anyone? How would you like the opportunity to prove that, Hawkins?”</p>
<p>The dark-haired kid looked at his instructor smugly. “Sure. What’s the challenge?”</p>
<p>Kaidan grinned at the kid’s arrogance. “Here’s the deal. You complete this task without any help from anyone including me and I call off the exercise with Anderson and you guys go into the field—<em>untested</em>.”</p>
<p>That got a lot of uneasy looks from the group, but Hawkins ignored them. “And if I don’t?”</p>
<p>“Oh, you mean if you fail and I can complete it instead? Then we go through with the exercise as planned,” Kaidan replied with a shrug.  “But with one change…We proceed <em>without</em> you and you get shipped back to Arcturus.”</p>
<p>“So I just sit out? The most power student you have, and you sideline me?”</p>
<p>“No. I won’t sideline you. You’ll be <em>out</em> of the program all together. That’s the deal. But you’re the most powerful biotic here. What do you have to be afraid of?”</p>
<p>Hawkins looked around the group. Some were smiling wickedly, hoping the smart mouth would be gone while others were cheering him on. Apparently his ego took over and the kid agreed. “Fine. You guys will have to thank me later for not having to do that stupid demonstration.”</p>
<p>Reese watched as Kaidan only shook his head, his eyes briefly flickering towards were she stood invisible to the others. <em>He knew. </em>She smiled and waited for his challenge. “Are you ready, Hawkins?”</p>
<p>“I was born ready.”</p>
<p>“Fine. What you have to do is simple. We have a guest instructor today. They have been watching this whole exchange probably with mild amusement. I had asked them here to demonstrate how biotics can truly work together. Hopefully to convince some of you that I am right. Anyway, what I want you to do is find them.”</p>
<p>“Find them? That’s it? Like hide and seek? You want me to search this whole place them.”</p>
<p>“Exactly. Well, almost. There is one thing I should probably tell you…They are wearing a tactical cloak and have been the whole time.”</p>
<p>“You want me to find a cloaked person without any help? They could be anywhere in here!”</p>
<p>“Oh, I promise you they are here with us. And they won’t leave this area,” Kaidan pointed at the side of the gym-like area they all occupied. “You have my word.”</p>
<p>“Your word? You’re crazy.”</p>
<p>“So you want me to find them for you then?”</p>
<p>“<em>No</em>! You probably know where they are anyway or using your omni-tool somehow.”</p>
<p>Kaidan walked over to a panel and tapped in a few commands. “Everyone’s tool is now rendered inert except for the target’s. You can check if you want but you said this would be easy. You are the most powerful.”</p>
<p>Reese watched with amusement as the kid glanced around helplessly. She walked a few steps around the perimeter of the group, her eyes still on Kaidan and the boy. The Major glanced around at his students, his gaze settling in her direction again. He said nothing, waiting for the boy to do something.</p>
<p>“This is bull. I thought you meant something like throwing up barriers or warps. Maybe singularities. How are my biotics supposed to <em>find</em> anybody?”</p>
<p>“Maybe if you paid more attention to the group assignment Major Alenko gave us you would know,” Corwin suggested.</p>
<p>“Oh, shut up. Biotics aren’t made for hide and go seek.”</p>
<p>“Biotics each have their own—”</p>
<p>“<em>Corwin</em>,” Kaidan warned. “No help remember? He said he has this and that we would all be <em>thanking</em> him for saving you from a field demo on Friday, remember?”</p>
<p>Corwin nodded silently. Did the girl know what Kaidan was getting at? Reese moved again this time towards the head of the group. No one paid her any mind. No one except Kaidan who only inclined his head in her general direction. <em>Interesting. It still works.</em></p>
<p>Hawkins grew frustrated and flared his biotics as if that were going to solve the problem. Reese shook her head and silently laughed as the kid walked around the area Kaidan had outlined. No one moved, well except Reese. After a few minutes of weaving in and out of the group, Hawkins had taken to walking the perimeter of the designated area, glaring back at Kaidan. For a solid ten minutes the young man griped about his task as he was followed unbeknownst by his quarry.</p>
<p>Finally the kid came to stand back in front of Kaidan, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “This is bull crap, Major. You just don’t like me because I’m stronger and better than you are.”</p>
<p>“I take then, that you give up,” Alenko replied, unphased by the accusation. Reese could tell Kaidan didn’t like the kid but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give him a fair shot.</p>
<p>“Fine, <em>you</em> find this mystery person. I doubt there even is one. It’s just a load of crap to get rid of me,” Hawkins whined as Kaidan looked to the rest of the group.</p>
<p>“Do you want me to find them?” he asked.</p>
<p>A call of ‘<em>yeahs’</em> and ‘<em>please shut him ups’</em> rang out as Reese moved to stand directly behind the student who had failed. She waited. Would it take long or would he just—</p>
<p>“Alright,” Kaidan took a few steps forward, toward Hawkins. “If you paid attention in class you should have been able to figure this out. I hinted at it but never had you guys engage in an exercise to do it. A couple stories I told from my time one the original <em>Normandy</em> would probably have given you a few clues too if you bothered to listen.”</p>
<p>Hawkins looked at him like he was stupid. “What could that possibly have to do with this?”</p>
<p>“<em>Everything</em>,” Kaidan answered with a grin as he moved around the boy and rested his hand on something in thin air, just as a mime would. “That’s where I learned to trust another biotic so completely that we could do a few neat tricks. This one is one of them.”</p>
<p>Alenko put his other hand out, it seemed to stop against some unseen object just as his other hand had. “I also learned that this particular biotic is ticklish in a certain spot.”</p>
<p>“<em>Stop!”</em> Reese exclaimed as his hands found his sides even without seeing her. “Alenko, <em>no!”</em></p>
<p>Reese’s sudden exclamation and the fact the Major seemed to be struggling with something unseen caused a rush of silence to fill the room. Her laughter and the Major’s whoop of triumph was the only sound. Finally she deactivated the cloak and shimmered into view, still held securely by Alenko. His hands wrapped around her waist and shoulders as he announced, “See? Not that hard to find it if you know what you are looking for.”</p>
<p>Hawkins stood beside them dumbfounded. “<em>How?</em> If you really didn’t use your ‘tool and you didn’t know where she was going to be?”</p>
<p>Kaidan glanced over at the red head from earlier. “Corwin?”</p>
<p>She nodded. “Yes, sir. The Major had alluded all year that biotics can sense dark matter. We all know that. We all feel the buzz when we are around eezo and drive cores. We feel the charge from other biotics when they use their powers. What Major Alenko hinted at was that if you pay attention enough, if you get <em>used</em> to the other biotics you serve with, you can detect them before you see them.”</p>
<p>“That’s crap. How—”</p>
<p>“Each person’s biotics are unique to them. The static charge, that buzzing feeling you get, even when not in us--is still there. If you learn to attune yourself to it, to<em> someone</em>, you can pick up on things. When they are about to flare, when their biotics are off, how close they are…” Reese replied as Kaidan let her go. “I learned that on the SR1 thanks to the man you are lucky enough to have as an instructor.”</p>
<p>“He knew—”</p>
<p>“He knew I’d be here. But if you are questioning his integrity and insinuating that he cheated somehow, I’d have to say I’m glad you showed your arrogant ass off. You have no place here,” the Lt. Commander declared as her omni-tool flared to life. “You have a shuttle waiting on you. Don’t you have some place to go?”</p>
<p>Hawkins looked helplessly at Kaidan. The Major shrugged. “I gave you a chance. You decided to be independent and an ass and now you are gone. Maybe you’ll learn something from this. At least you didn’t have to kill someone before you learned a lesson.”</p>
<p>“Or almost get someone killed,” Reese added in a hushed tone.</p>
<p>Hawkins growled and then turned away. Kaidan moved to say something to everyone else but Reese punched some buttons on her ‘tool. The large screen used for lectures came to life. Hawkin’s biotic metrics appeared.</p>
<p>Kaidan gave her a look as she called out to the departing kid. “You are damn powerful for an L4. The most powerful <em>L4</em> here; you’re right about that. But you are not the most powerful <em>biotic</em> here.”</p>
<p>Hawkins froze and glared at her as a second set of metrics popped up. Kaidan glanced up and frowned. “<em>Reese</em>,” he hissed.</p>
<p>She ignored him. “The Major may be an L2, but he is still much more powerful than you. The implant doesn’t matter. The strength of your biotics doesn’t matter. What you <em>do</em> with them does.”</p>
<p>“And that is supposed to do what? Make me humble?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but just in case that isn’t enough, how about this,” she replied with a smirk. A third set appeared. <em>Hers</em>. “You aren’t the second strongest biotic here either. <em>I </em>am. But I hated my biotics growing up. I still don’t use them as much as could, but they don’t scare me anymore.”</p>
<p>“What is this? Some sort of sob story to show me I need to change my ways? That I’m wrong?”</p>
<p>“Well, you are wrong, and I won’t bore you with my life choices but someday someone’s gonna come along and pound your ass into the ground because of your attitude and your biotics won’t be able to save you. A friend, a <em>team</em> could have. I learned that the hard way. But you don’t want to learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t say the Major didn’t try though.”</p>
<p>“I’ll take my chances.” Hawkins grumbled and walked out the door.</p>
<p>Silence came over the group once again as they stared at the Major and Lt. Commander. Reese turned off the screen and re-enabled everyone’s omni-tools. Kaidan made a face and then ran a hand through his hair. “So, I guess that means the exercise is still on and we are down a person.”</p>
<p>“So? He didn’t even bother to practice with us to start with,” Corwin noted.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I get that, but I don’t like losing people. For any reason,” he replied.</p>
<p>“Adapt then,” Reese interjected. “You guys are smart. Figure it out.”</p>
<p>“That’s a great piece of advice, Reese,” Kaidan mumbled as he turned to her.</p>
<p>She shrugged. “That’s what I do. It’s gotten me this far. And now I’m here with you trying to get your kids to work as a team.”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, but—"</p>
<p>“<em>But what</em>, Alenko? You not sure you know what you’re looking for now?”</p>
<p>He snapped his gaze back to her. “Oh, no. Lt. Commander, I am very sure I know what I’m looking for and I think I’ve found it…Or maybe found it again.”</p>
<p>Before she could respond, a chant from the other side of the room rang out. “Major’s got a girlfriend! Major’s got a girlfriend!”</p>
<p>Reese knew her cheeks began to redden as she watched Kaidan smirk. Instead of being self-conscious as he had three years ago, he glanced at his kids. “Yeah. I do.”</p>
<p>Her eyes widened at his public admission and then she gasped as he kissed her full on the lips, smirking the enter time. Too stunned to protest, Reese returned the kiss instead as the group hooted and howled for their instructor. Normally such a display would bother her, but this time she didn’t care. Kaidan was on Earth, with her, wanting her, wanting <em>them </em>again. Nothing was going to take that from her. Nothing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Friday, September 15, 2186,</em>
  </strong>
  <strong>
    <em> Near Chanter Peak, North Shore Mountains, British Columbia, Canada, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>“At least it’s not freezing this time,” Reese commented as they unpacked the rented sky car. It was a nice 58*F in the mountains, sunny with a hint of clouds. Last time it had been colder and flurrying. But that had been a life time ago or so it seemed.</p>
<p>Kaidan grunted as he hefted his duffle bag out of the trunk. “As I remember it you had no problems keeping warm.”</p>
<p>She smirked at him, her own duffle bag in hand. “Of course you would remember <em>that</em> part of shore leave.”</p>
<p>“I remember you meeting my parents and going to met your Gran,” he noted pointedly as they approached the cabin. “But yeah. I remember things from then. It was just a couple weeks, but it meant a lot to me…despite what I did later.”</p>
<p>Reese paused in her tracks, glancing back at him. “Kaidan, we don’t have to talk about that—”</p>
<p>“I know. I just—we can’t avoid that forever.” He let his words hang in the air.</p>
<p> The cool mountain breeze rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. He was correct. Avoiding talking about everything that had happened three years ago and since then would do them no good in the long run. But that’s not why they were at Kaidan’s cabin in the mountains north of Vancouver.</p>
<p>“No, but I don’t want to spend this shore leave hashing up the past,” she finally replied, motioning towards the cabin.</p>
<p>The Major gave her a nod as he walked to her side. “Then we won’t.”</p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>The cabin looked pretty much the same as it had three years before. At least from the outside. Nestled on the side of a small mountain amongst a grove of conifer trees, Vancouver’s lights twinkled off in the distance. The large porch still graced the front of the building, running its entire length and then wrapping around along one side. Different outdoor furniture and a swing occupied the space now. The living area was still an open floor plan that included a kitchen and dining area. A large bedroom and bath room were off to the left along the side the porch wrapped around to. The double doors to the other part of the porch were still a dominating feature in that room.</p>
<p>But on the way up Reese had noted the rear of the cabin looked bigger than before. Granted she had only been here once, but her memory wasn’t that bad. Upon further inspection, she found another two rooms had been added.</p>
<p>“When did you decide to add on?” The lt. Commander asked as she dropped her duffle by the couch.</p>
<p>Kaidan glanced up at her as he picked her bag up, heading towards the bedroom. “About the time I decided to make a complete mess of my life…It was the only constructive thing I did after I left…”</p>
<p>Reese followed him with her eyes as he deposited their bags in the other room and quickly returned. She took a breath. She knew he had initially built the cabin sometime during the space of time he had dropped off the radar as he put it after BAaT. Had he done the same thing again after the <em>Normandy</em> went down? She sure as hell couldn’t find him back then and she knew Anderson and Hackett had actively blocked her efforts. But that was then, and this was now.</p>
<p>“So what are they? Just extra rooms or did you have ideas for them?”</p>
<p>“Well, one’s turned into a hobby room of sorts and the other was supposed to be an extra bedroom. But that didn’t go quite as planned.”</p>
<p>“Didn’t go quite as planned?” She echoed curiously.</p>
<p>“Yeah. You remember how I said had my stuff in storage like you? Well <em>that</em> room became storage…”</p>
<p>She peered through the door he pushed opened. Stacks of boxes sat neatly in the middle of the room.</p>
<p>“At least you don’t have to pay for a storage building…”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to either…if you don’t want to,” Kaidan mumbled as he continued to hold the door open.</p>
<p>“What?” She couldn’t have possibly of heard him correctly.</p>
<p>“You could stow you’re stuff here,” Kaidan explained in a louder voice, gesturing into the room. “I could move mine to one side…”</p>
<p>Reese tilted her head, intrigued by both the idea and the fact he offered in the first place. “What? Like his and hers storage?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Something like that.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he wore a bashful grin.</p>
<p><em>“Kaidan</em>.”</p>
<p>“It’s just an offer, Kori,” Alenko uttered as he held up his hands as in surrender. “It doesn’t mean anything more than you having a place to stow your gear without paying for it…Unless you’re Gran has your stuff..”</p>
<p>“Nah, she said I moved out a long time ago and I’m a big girl now. She’ll always welcome me back for visits, but I’m supposed to fly on my own now…” Reese replied with a grin. She caught Kaidan’s arched eyebrow as she added with a laugh, “And she said she is <em>not</em> a storage garage.”</p>
<p>“Well I can be your storage garage then.” The half grin he offered her was all she needed to know he had phrased his comment that way on purpose.</p>
<p>“Alenko, that sounds really weird.”</p>
<p>“I thought you liked my awkwardly adorable weirdness.”</p>
<p>“I do otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”</p>
<p>****</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Saturday, September 16, 2186, Near Chanter Peak, North Shore Mountains, British Columbia, Canada, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“So <em>how</em> exactly did you convince Anderson to grant me shore leave?” Reese asked as she laid sprawled across the bed. The moonlight filtered through the double doors to the porch as she pillowed chin on her arms, watching as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom. They had been at the cabin for two days, mostly just hanging out. Kaidan had insisted on fixing up a few things around the cabin and trimming some bushes away from the back half of the building. Other than that, it had been pretty quiet and lazy, something neither of them were particularly used to.</p>
<p>Alenko glanced back at her motioning to his toothbrush with an annoyed expression. She chuckled and called out with amusement, “Sorry.”</p>
<p>He waved her off as he finished brushing his teeth. Putting away his toothbrush, he turned back to her. “Is there a reason you ask me things when I obviously can’t answer?”</p>
<p>She smirked. “I honestly wasn’t paying attention to that.”</p>
<p>“So <em>what</em> were you paying attention to then, Lt. Commander?” Kaidan asked as he leaned against the doorframe in nothing but shorts and a tee shirt.</p>
<p>She watched as he crossed his arms. She smiled deciding to give him a candid answer. “Your butt.”</p>
<p>“Ah, yes. My butt. Of course that would have your interest,” he said as he walked—no, sauntered-- towards the bed. “That’s the only reason you agreed to come, isn’t it? The view of my backside.”</p>
<p>“You could have other people start looking at your backside,” she offered as she propped herself up on her elbows.</p>
<p>“Ah, no. I don’t think so, Kori,” he replied with a smirk. He added as he came to stand in front of her, “You’re all I need.”</p>
<p>Her voice was lost as she fully comprehended his words. He didn’t mean just the bit about ogling his butt. He meant everything. The look in his whiskey colored eyes confirmed that. She had no idea what to say. He was being open and honest, and it was what she had asked. But in that moment, she had no idea how to react.</p>
<p>Kaidan grinned down at her. “To answer you badly timed question, I simply asked Anderson. He said you had several weeks of unused leave. Since you helped make my kids presentable for the demonstration and because you <em>haven’t</em> taken leave since before you took over the retrofit, he granted it with no questions asked. He seemed kinda relieved that I was asking about it.”</p>
<p>“<em>Oh</em>,” she commented, not knowing what else to say. He was right. She hadn’t taken leave in almost a year. Working on the retrofit of the <em>Normandy</em> and before that conducting some grab and go missions concerning Geth and Reaper tech with Tali, had left her with little time to engage in R &amp; R. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She could have but had decided not to. Keeping busy kept her mind from going places she didn’t want it to go.</p>
<p>“Hey, what’s wrong?” Kaidan asked, his voice full of concern. He knelt down to her level, knowing something was bothering her as he caressed her cheek. “If you didn’t want to come here, you could have told me. I would have understood…Things happened since last time.”</p>
<p>Reese shook her head vehemently as she grabbed his hand. “<em>No</em>! It’s not that…You said that I’m all you need…the <em>way</em> you said it—”</p>
<p>Alenko smiled at her tenderly. “That’s because it’s true. Even if you do ogle my butt.”</p>
<p>She smiled, realizing she wanted to be to <em>only</em> one who had that privilege. “So just me? No one else?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Kori. Just you. No one else.”</p>
<p>****</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Monday, September 18, 2186, Near Chanter Peak, North Shore Mountains, British Columbia, Canada, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Hi</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Hello</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You aren’t talking to me?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I know you’re there, techboy</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Why are you texting me when I am right outside?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: because you are outside, and I am inside.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Thechboy_sr1: then come outside.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I don’t want to</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: why not?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Cause I’m comfortable in here.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you aren’t in the bed again are you?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: maybe. Maybe not.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: you have to get out of it some time.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: says who?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: says me because you aren’t eating in my bed.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: you’re no fun</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: that’s not what you said when we made out last night in that same bed</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: you enjoy reminding me of that don’t you?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Maybe…but only if you are alright with doing it.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I haven’t stopped you yet have I?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: no.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Do you want me to come outside?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Yes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Be out in a minute.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>“Kaidan, <em>what</em> are you doing?” Reese asked as she sat on the steps of the porch. The Major had been hacking away at logs for the better part of an hour. She had only come out in the last fifteen minutes after pestering him with texting.</p>
<p>“I’m splitting logs for the fireplace, Kori. What does it look like I’m doing?” he replied as he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow.</p>
<p>“Ok. But why?”</p>
<p>“This is the North Shore Mountains, remember? And you don’t like the cold,” Kaidan stated as he swung the ax again. He glanced back at her when she said nothing. His shoulders slumped. “Really? Reese? It’s going to get cold tonight and you didn’t pay any attention to the weather forecast did you?”</p>
<p>She shook her head <em>no </em>as he tilted his head. When she continued to look at him blankly, he leaned the ax against the stack of logs and walked over to her. “You don’t really know why I’m doing this do you?”</p>
<p>Reese hated to admit when she didn’t have the answer or at least a good guess but this time she was at a loss. “I really don’t. I thought you were just bored.”</p>
<p>“Kori, if I were that bored believe me when I say I would definitely find something more fun to do. Probably with you,” he commented with a wink.</p>
<p>She gazed up at him for a moment. He had said he didn’t want her cold. “Does this have anything to do with me?”</p>
<p>Kaidan knelt down in front of her, taking her hand in his. “Kori, <em>everything</em> here has something to do with you. You are still the only person I’ve ever brought here. I want you to feel comfortable here. And if I have to split logs to keep you warm then I’ll do it.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” she uttered quietly, still not used to the level their relationship had taken in the past month. She wasn’t opposed to it, but it would take time to get used to.</p>
<p>His whiskey colored eyes never left hers as he caressed her cheek. “Sweetheart, why did you text me earlier rather than come out here an bug me?”</p>
<p>She blinked a few times trying to put into words what she had been feeling since that weekend at her Gran’s house. Being with him outside of the military structure even if a couple nights a week in her apartment or his quarters at the barracks brought on thoughts of how things could be if they took the next step. If they did more than date, if they lived together, if they—</p>
<p>The pad of his thumb grazing her lips lightly brought her back. His tender smile finally gave her the courage to voice her thoughts. “I—I got used to texting you, then vidchatting with you, then seeing you in person. And now I am used to all three together but…”</p>
<p>Reese took a breath as he waited patiently for her to continue. Softly, she added, “And now…I want to…Ever since you visited Gran with me I’ve been having thoughts of us…doing more…”</p>
<p>Kaidan tilted his head ever so slightly. “Kori, you’re going to have to define ‘doing more’ for me. That can cover a lot of territory.”</p>
<p>She pursued her lips together. “I know…I meant what we are doing <em>now. </em>That’s what I want more of…”</p>
<p>“What we are doing now,” Kaidan repeated softly, his thumb continuing to caress her cheek. “We are staying at my cabin at the moment but I’m gonna guess you mean staying with one another in general.”</p>
<p>The Lt. Commander nodded mutely, feeling like her words to answer his question had already been used up. He gave her a thoughtful look. “I’d like that.”</p>
<p>She knew her face had to light up when she heard his words. His own expression became a broad grin as he leaned forward and kissed her. He whispered against her lips, “We can work out the details later.”</p>
<p>“Why not now?” she pretended to whine.</p>
<p>“Because I have plans for this evening already and I’m not going to let your aversion to cold stop them,” he replied kissing her again.</p>
<p>“But—”</p>
<p>“Trust me. You are going to like this.”</p>
<p>^^^^^</p>
<p>It was well after nightfall as they sat out in the clearing off to the side of the cabin. A roaring bonfire provided the warmth Kaidan had promised earlier in the day. They sat on a pallet of blankets listening to the fire crackle, roasting marshmallows for smores. Reese was fairly sure he had put some forethought into things, but she decided not to ask. She was enjoying the simple act of being with him too much.</p>
<p>Kaidan leaned back against a stump with her settled comfortably between his legs. He had brought out a thick blanket to wrap her up in as he explained once again they were waiting for something. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure it out. It seemed Alenko was making it a habit to do that to her as of late. For a change she didn’t mind.</p>
<p>Reese instead leaned into his arms, waiting for this mystery event to occur as he recounted some stories of his childhood, mostly summers spent at his family’s orchard. They were stories he had not told her before. It was like he was trying to share a part of himself with her that he hadn’t three years prior. She was okay with that too. She seemed to be okay with a lot of things now. It was a far cry from their initial meeting at Alliance HQ back in February.</p>
<p>As the stars twinkled above them, Kaidan suddenly pointed towards the north. “It’s not the best time of year to see it but the forecast said this was the most likely time this week for it. See that glow?”</p>
<p>She followed where he was pointing. A soft green glow could be seen over the mountains. Reese cocked her head. “Is that what I think it is?”</p>
<p>“Depends on what you think it is,” Alenko replied as he pulled her tighter to him with his free hand.</p>
<p>“Well, it looks like it might be the beginnings of an interaction between particles or ions from the sun and the Earth’s atmosphere. Probably the ionized gases coming in contact with the magnetic field which causes them to become agitated. Some of them become trapped and interact with the ionosphere which in turn causes the glow,” the Lt. Commander droned on in response as she continued to watch the glow gradually become brighter.</p>
<p>Kaidan huffed from behind her, the puff of breath enough to move the hair as the base of her neck. “That is the least romantic way I have ever heard the Aurora Borealis described.”</p>
<p>“Oh? You didn’t want the scientific jargon?” she asked in an innocent tone as she glanced back at him.</p>
<p>“You know I didn’t,” he scolded as he kissed her cheek. Returning his attention back to the sky, he went on, “I used to watch this with my parents when I was a kid. Always took it for granted until I went off world. It’s nice just to sit and watch it again…with someone I care about.”</p>
<p>“Kaidan, is everything alright?”</p>
<p>He wrapped both arms around her as he took a breath. “I had meant for tonight just to be something romantic, this whole week really. Just us with no responsibilities. I thought it could just be a break from everything, maybe we get to know a little more about one another but then what you said this afternoon…”</p>
<p>“What I said?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. The part about us staying together more…Did you mean like at each other’s place or in a relationship?”</p>
<p>It was her turn to pause. What had she meant? She wanted to see more of him. She wanted more in general. Did all that go hand in hand?</p>
<p>“Both?” she finally replied in a tone that sounded more like a question than an answer.</p>
<p>“Kori,” Kaidan murmured as the glow from above grew brighter, the green aura dancing across the sky in different patterns. “Only if you’re sure.”</p>
<p>Reese took a breath. “Ashley used to quote poetry all the time. There was that one guy. Not Tennyson. Pavese? Anyway I’m not one for poetry in general but one of the lines she said that stuck with me was ‘We do not remember the days. We remember the moments.’ I want more moments with you, Kaidan. Moments like this. Moments that matter.”</p>
<p>“I want that too, Kori,” Alenko agreed as she smiled back at him.</p>
<p>She made a contented noise as she settled back against his chest, pulling the blanket tighter around her. They still had a lot of ground to cover but she knew she was willing to cross it now. She knew she would still have insecurities; Kaidan would too. If they didn’t, she would be concerned.</p>
<p>As they settled in the watch the Aurora Borealis, Kaidan rested his chin lightly on her shoulder. She could tell just by the way he held her that he was happy. So was she. It was nice.</p>
<p>She had no idea how long they sat by the stump watching the Northern Lights. Every once in a while they would shift positions or make a comment about the pattern of light. Neither was in a hurry to go back into the cabin. At one point, Kaidan pulled out his omni-tool seemingly to check the time. She ignored it until her own ‘tool beeped a few seconds later.</p>
<p>
  <em>Message from Techboy_sr1.</em>
</p>
<p>She glanced at him, but he continued to gaze upward, his own ‘tool put away. She made a face and then opened the message. <em>‘You make me smile. Even when I’m not trying to.’</em></p>
<p>Reese looked up at his profile to see a grin tugging at his lips. She rose up and kissed his jaw as he hugged her tightly. She snuggled into his chest, her head coming to rest underneath his chin once again. Tucked comfortably in his strong arms, she knew she was making the right choice. She would try again with him and this time he wouldn’t walk away. She believed that. She believed him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>******</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Tuesday, September 19, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>It wasn’t fair but that was military life for you. They had planned on spending the whole week at the cabin not coming back until the 24<sup>th</sup>. It figured that since she had not taken leave for nearly a year, it would be cut short. Anderson had recalled them that morning only saying that the Committee was scheduled to interview them both Friday and that he needed them to prepared readiness reports for their respective assignments. Either way it had been a disappointing ending to a promising week.</p>
<p>Regardless, Kaidan still found time that afternoon to text her while she went over the progress the retrofit team had made in her absence.</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Have your stuff taken out of storage and sent to the barracks. I’ll make sure it gets to the cabin later.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You want to do that now? We just got called back to HQ.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I want to do it while we still have the chance. The Committee isn’t requesting our presence until Friday.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Yeah, but Anderson wants the Normandy up and running. Joker is itching to run some flight tests and Traynor wants to do a full systems test—</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Kori, I can handle it. I’ll make a run up to the cabin to drop your stuff off tomorrow after my duty shift. All my meetings will be over by then.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Okay.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Don’t sound so enthusiastic. If you don’t want to do it, just say so.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: It’s not that. It’s just I wanted to spend the whole week there and then the Committee decides now after months to begin Shepard’s hearing. It’s bull.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I’ll make it up to you somehow. I promise. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: It’s not your fault, Kaidan. You didn’t waste a bunch of time debating stupid crap.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: I still want to make it up to you. But Anderson talks like something else is going on. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: ANN is reporting some weird sightings in Batarian space.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: It could just be left overs from the relay Shepard blew…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: You don’t believe that any more than I do.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Never can catch a break can we? I just wanted a week alone with you.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Just one week?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Well, no…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: I could come over after I check in with Traynor and Adams. The tests won’t happen until tomorrow.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: You want to stay the night?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: Is that okay?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Of course, it is. Come on over whenever you can. You can use one of my tee shirts to sleep in.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Kori13: you like it when I do that.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Techboy_sr1: Maybe. But I like being with you more.</em>
</p>
<p>******</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Thursday, September 21, 2186, Seattle-Vancouver megaplex, Earth</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Things appear to be tense within the confines of the Batarian Hegemony. While we have no concrete evidence of the cause of such speculation, a mass exodus of many Batarians have left many wondering what is going on. While rumors concerning the repercussions of the Bahak system’s relay runs rampant, that does not completely account for the flight from other Batarians star systems as well. Those that have left, have sought refuge elsewhere with other races they once shunned. Each story is the same. Their home systems are under attack by unidentified hostiles forces. While no one can dispute the fact Batarians are leaving their space by the thousands, no one can corroborate their stories. The Alliance nor the Citadel Council have officially released a statement other than they are looking into the situation. Is this some sort of ploy by the Batarians geared to blame the Alliance for the destruction of the Bahak Relay or is this the precursor to an invasion? With little to go on at present, we at ANN will continue to work to unearth the truths involved and keep you up to date. This is Emily Wong for the Alliance News Network. Good night.”</em>
</p>
<p>“Why do you insist on watching the news before bed?” Kaidan groused as he rolled onto his side, slinging an arm over Reese’s waist.</p>
<p>“Because I like to keep informed,” she replied simply as he nuzzled her neck with his nose. Her attention remained on the laptop that sat on the end table as his actions became more insistent. “<em>Kaidan</em>.”</p>
<p>“You’re staying at my place and you’re paying the news lady more attention than me,” he feigned whining as his hand squeezed her hip.</p>
<p>She chuckled as she shut off the laptop. “Are you jealous of the news lady, Major?”</p>
<p>“Only because she had your undivided attention when I want it,” Alenko murmured as he nibbled along the shell of her ear.</p>
<p>Reese turned over to face him, his arms coming to enclose her in a strong embrace. “You don’t have to be jealous of the news lady, Kaidan. <em>Or anyone</em>. You’re the only one I want to give my undivided attention to.”</p>
<p>“Are you sure?” the Major asked quietly, his whiskey colored eyes looking directly at her. It was as if he were looking into her soul. It was a simple question with a simple answer. He wanted reassurance that she wanted to stay with him, that this time was real.</p>
<p>Reese ran a hand through his dark hair, peppered with grey. “I’m as sure as you are, Kaidan.”</p>
<p>“Kori,” he whispered as he pulled her in for a kiss. “I more sure about this than I have been of anything in a long time.”</p>
<p>“Good, because when you look at me like that sometimes I think you are having second thoughts,” she confessed against his lips.</p>
<p>“No but I think the same about you sometimes,” he replied as he rested his forehead against hers.</p>
<p>“What a pair we make,” she chuckled as she rubbed circles at the base of his neck.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he agreed.</p>
<p>They fell into a comfortable silence, just laying in bed holding one another. They remained like that for a long time until Kaidan mumbled, “I wish tomorrow wasn’t happening like it will. I wish we were still at the cabin.”</p>
<p>“At least our stuff is there sharing a room,” she remarked without humor.</p>
<p>“That is not at all what I meant,” he replied. “You, I, and a few others <em>finally</em> get to testify before the Committee and then that thing with the Batarians. Something is up.”</p>
<p>“Paranoid?”</p>
<p>“After serving with Shepard, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>“I was paranoid before that.”</p>
<p>“I believe it.”</p>
<p>Reese made a face at him. “Really?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he admitted. “You were paranoid about Conatix and Cerberus before I met you. It spurred you on to join the Alliance. You are paranoid about orders that don’t make sense or when you know more about the situation than you let on. You’ve gone out of your way to have sources of information beyond standard Alliance channels…And you are annoyingly right a majority of the time.”</p>
<p>“And you still want me around? Even though I think there is more to our shore leave being cut short and the sudden need for Shepard’s hearing?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Just like that?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>She looked at him skeptically. He grinned. “I mean it. I mean it so much that I think we should get our own place…”</p>
<p>“Our own place?” she echoed quietly.</p>
<p>“Yep. That way I can be even more dorky for you,” he replied with a crooked grin.</p>
<p>“More dorky <em>with</em> grey hair?”</p>
<p>He huffed. “Yes, Kori. More dorky with grey hair.”</p>
<p>Reese tilted her head up and kissed his temple, where most of his grey was centered. “I like the grey.”</p>
<p>“Good to know,” he murmured as he pulled her down to rest against his chest. Pulling the blankets tightly around them he added, “I have a feeling before everything is said and done, I’m going to be getting more of it.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>“We do not remember the days. We remember the moments.” Cesare Pavese<br/>https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/cesare-pavese</p>
<p>Aurora Borealis <br/>https://www.weather.gov/fsd/aurora</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Friday, September 22, 2186 CE, Sol System en route to Mars </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Reese rode the elevator to the launch bay. She had kept the comm open on her omni-tool the whole time she had been in engineering helping Adams keep the revamped drive core working. With only the retrofit crew aboard and no real command structure it had been interesting getting the Normandy airborne. Regardless the trip from drydock to pick up Shepard and Anderson had been successful. The people from R &amp; D had stepped up to the challenge once they understood what was happening. It helped that Major Alenko had shown up and Joker was flying the ship. Two legends that had fought with the Savior of the Citadel. Reese had been in engineering too busy to announce to anyone but Joker that she was the ranking officer onboard after Alenko.</p>
<p>The Lt. Cmdr. played with an omni-tool upgrade she had been working on as she listened to the conversation taking place in the launch bay. EDI had been kind enough to reveal herself to the tech once she had been vouched for by Joker. Occasionally the pilot did something nice…</p>
<p>
  <em>“…was reaching the Prothean archives with Dr. T’soni…may have found a way to stop the Reapers…the only way to stop them…will be in contact soon. Hackett out.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Joker, set a course for the Mars archives.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Mars? Roger that.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“This is loco.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Why Mars? What does he think we’ll find there?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I don’t know…yet. But if it helps us win this war. Grab your gear.”</em>
</p>
<p>The elevator doors opened to reveal Cmdr. Shepard, Major Alenko, and what she thought was Lt. Vega prepping their gear for the drop on Mars. Reese took a deep breath. He was okay. It had just been that morning that she had woke up in his arms in his quarters to his smile. She steadied herself. The mission came first.</p>
<p>Exiting the elevator, Reese walked up to the Cmdr. and saluted. “Lt. Cmdr. Reese reporting, sir.”</p>
<p>Shepard turned around as he looked at her uncertainly for a moment. “Lt. <em>Cmdr. </em>Reese?”</p>
<p>“Ummm, yes, sir. I’ve been promoted a couple times since we met last, sir,” she explained as she felt Kaidan’s eyes on her.</p>
<p>“I see. We’re heading to Mars to—“</p>
<p>“Meet up with Dr. T’soni, sir. I know. I kept a comm open thanks to EDI.”</p>
<p>“EDI? You know?”</p>
<p>Before Reese could say anything, the <em>Normandy’s</em> AI spoke up. “Jeff vouched for her. And as the ranking officer in charge of the retrofit, it was only logical for her to be aware.”</p>
<p>“I see,” Shepard replied with a half grin.</p>
<p>“Shepard, you should also be aware that Lt. Cmdr. Reese is the ranking officer aboard after yourself and Major Alenko.”</p>
<p>“EDI,” Reese snapped, “Joker can—“</p>
<p>“No, Joker can fly the ship, but I want <em>you</em> in charge while I’m gone,” Shepard said firmly.</p>
<p>She frowned but offered no further protest. “Aye, sir.”</p>
<p>“I want a full report on everything when we get back and I mean everything you can get your hands on,” the Cmdr. ordered as he went back to his gear.</p>
<p>“ETA 10 minutes,” Joker called over the comm.</p>
<p>“Got it, Joker,” the Specter said as he walked over to Vega and the larger guns. He threw over his shoulder. “We launch in less than 10, Major. Make it count.”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir,” Kaidan replied as he continued to look at Reese. She met his eyes and tried not to fall apart. She had been so scared that he hadn’t made it to the ship and then being too busy to let him know she was aboard…</p>
<p>Very calmly he motioned for her to follow him over behind some crates in the corner. As soon as they were out of sight of the others, Kaidan took her in her arms and lifted her off the deck plates. He buried his head in her shoulder and whispered, “I thought I’d lost you.”</p>
<p>“I’m here…things were so hectic I didn’t have time to message you…I’m sorry,” she replied wrapping her arms around his neck tightly.</p>
<p>“It’s okay. We’re okay,” he said pulling back enough to look into her grey eyes. She nodded as he saw unshed tears in her eyes. “We’ll beat those bastards and take back Earth. You have to believe that.”</p>
<p>“I do,” she replied.</p>
<p>“Then why are you crying?”</p>
<p>“We just started working things out…We started talking about moving in with each other…It’s selfish…”</p>
<p>Suddenly she felt his lips crash into hers with such force and passion that she felt the breath be knocked out of her. He pushed with his tongue, not seeking permission. She let him recognizing his intensity from one time before…the night before Ilos. She let him do what he needed to because she realized it was what she needed as well. Grabbing at his shirt she restrained herself as much as she could, but she wanted so much more.</p>
<p>Finally, reluctantly he pulled away. “I need to suit up.”</p>
<p>“I know. Just—“</p>
<p>“I’ll come back to you. I will. I promise I would already, remember?”</p>
<p>“Kaidan…”</p>
<p>“I will, Kori. Believe that.”</p>
<p>“You’d better, Alenko. Or I’m gonna be pissed,” Reese said as she ran a hand through his hair.</p>
<p>“Understood, Lt. Cmdr.,” he said with half a grin as he cupped her cheek.</p>
<p>“Be safe,” she whispered as he let go of her and started to walk toward the lockers.</p>
<p>He nodded as Shepard called, “Five minutes, Alenko.”</p>
<p>“Understood,” the Major replied as he rounded the crates.</p>
<p>Suddenly Reese jogged after him and called, “Hey, Kaidan?”</p>
<p>“Yeah?” he said turning back to her.</p>
<p>“Here. You guys might fine these useful,” she replied as she threw something at him.</p>
<p>He caught it and asked, “Omni-tools?”</p>
<p>“Upgrades for your omni-tools…new programming to help detect reaper code and stuff…”</p>
<p>Kaidan smiled and said, “That’s my girl.”</p>
<p>She blushed as he slowly turned back to the waiting landing party.</p>
<p>“Whoa, the Major has a smokin’ hot chica,” the younger marine said as he eyed Reese like a wolf.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t call her that…she has a temper,” Shepard advised drawing upon previous experience.</p>
<p>“I’d risk it…” Vega replied with a grin.</p>
<p>“Talk about Reese that way again Lt. and you’ll be walking to Mars. Understood?” Kaidan had heard the comment and had waited for Reese to say something. When she didn’t he had taken it as a cue to step in.</p>
<p>“Aye…sirs.”</p>
<p>“Good.”</p>
<p>Reese couldn’t help but smile. Even with everything going on he was still looking out for her. His action hadn’t truly been necessary but were still appreciated by the Lt. Commander. If he only knew exactly what she’d been up to for the last three years…</p>
<p>“Reese, my ship better be in one piece when we get back,” Shepard called as they began boarding the shuttle.</p>
<p>“Understood, sir,” the Lt. Cmdr. replied with a salute. Keeping everything together—the <em>Normandy</em>, the crew—was their best hope of winning. She only hoped whatever Liara T’soni was working on was worth a side trip to Mars.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>38 minutes later Reese stood at the command console in CIC and watched as multiple Reaper signatures popped up on the map at the same time. <em>How could they get here so fast? How could they have over taken Earth so fast? Duh. We weren’t prepared…</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Focus…</em>
</p>
<p>“Reese, the shuttle will not arrive for another two minutes,” EDI informed her as she quickly considered their options.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” she replied as she opened a ship wide comm. “All hands to battle stations…if you’re not already there. Consult with EDI if you’re not sure where your battle station is…I know this isn’t what we were originally assigned to the <em>Normandy</em> to do but when you’re with Cmdr. Shepard nothing is what it’s supposed to be. You all are the best. Now show everyone why.”</p>
<p>She took a deep breath and flashed on the mission to Eden Prime all those years ago. It was supposed to have been an easy routine assignment too… Shaking her head, she opened a comm to helm only. “Hey, Joker, I’m assuming you don’t have to be told what to do.”</p>
<p>“Ah, yeah. That’s would be a big f’ing affirmative, ma’am,” the pilot called back over the comm. “Moving to intercept the shuttle…”</p>
<p>She noticed the change in his tone as the console beeped in front of her. “Joker?”</p>
<p>“Reese, you should have someone prep medbay…”</p>
<p>“There’s no one assigned to medbay. We were in dry dock…”</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh no…Kaidan…</em>
</p>
<p>“I am preparing the medical bay for incoming wounded, Reese, but a crew member will be needed to run and monitor the equipment,” EDI informed them as Reese froze with fear.</p>
<p>She had just found him again. She couldn’t lose him. Not a second time.</p>
<p>
  <em>You’re here for a reason…I never lost faith in you…</em>
</p>
<p>Kaidan’s words echoed in her head as she gripped the console’s edge. “Joker, as soon as the shuttle is secure get us the hell out of here…”</p>
<p>“Where to?”</p>
<p>“Operate under the assumption we’re going to the Citadel for now unless Shepard says otherwise,” the Lt. Cmdr. ordered.</p>
<p>“Understood.”</p>
<p>“EDI, transfer command back to Shepard when they get aboard and let him know I think I’m the only one with any medical training…aside from the Major...”</p>
<p>“Of course, Reese,” the AI replied.</p>
<p>She focused on the task at hand afraid to think of anything else. The whole world was burning and now the man she had just found again might be lost too…</p>
<p>“Shuttle secure,” EDI announced bringing Reese out of her revelry.</p>
<p>“Preforming ‘<em>get the hell out of here’</em> maneuver,” Joker called as the ship jumped.</p>
<p>Reese closed her eyes. ‘<em>Baby steps’</em> she kept saying to herself. They had something now or they sure as hell better have.</p>
<p>“Reese?” a voice said from her private comm on her omni-tool. She frowned. It was Joker.</p>
<p>“Umm, yeah?”</p>
<p>“I’ve got this. You should go to medbay…He’ll need you.”</p>
<p>The tenor of his voice almost brought tears to her eyes. She whispered, “Thanks.”</p>
<p>“If you need anything…”</p>
<p>“Understood, Flight Lt. and thank you…”</p>
<p>“Umm, yeah. Don’t mention it,” he replied returning to the ‘normal’ Joker everyone knew.</p>
<p>As she headed to the elevator she couldn’t help but think ‘<em>not again’</em> and it wasn’t meant totally for Kaidan. She held back tears and realized only Joker knew about the other loss…</p>
<p><em>Other loss</em>…his name was on the memorial wall across of the elevator on the crew deck. She could only hope and pray Kaidan’s didn’t appear there too…</p>
<p><em>Messages</em>. They had been sending each other messages. And Kaidan’s biggest thing he had been trying to tell her was that aside from wanting to be with her again, he still had faith in her. Now she needed that faith to face what would be waiting for her in medbay. But the message she held on to at the moment was ‘<em>I’ll come back</em>.’</p>
<p>And he had.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
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